Phoenix Wing
by keymasterdan
Summary: In the small town of Amaryllis, a guild stands proud. A guild that strives to be the best. To beat the others and finally reach the top. This guild is Phoenix Wing and this is their adventure. An SYOC story.
1. Prologue

**Chapter 1**

 _In a land far, far away, lies the Kingdom of Fiore, a small peaceful nation of 17 million, and a place filled with magic! Found in every home, bought and sold in every marketplace, for most, magic is simply a tool, a mundane part of everyday life. For some, however, magic is an art, and they have devoted their lives to its practice. These are the mages. Banded together into magical guilds they apply their skills in search of fame and fortune. Many such guilds dot the landscape of Fiore. But there is a certain guild in a certain town that bears the name..._

 _Phoenix Wing._

Amaryllis was a quaint town. It was a mountainous place with lovely scenery. The guild in town stood proudly in the center. Phoenix Wing.

The building was larger than most buildings in Amaryllis. It had two stories, an attic and a hidden basement. The guild had both a girl's dorm and boy's dorm. The girl's dorm was relatively close to the guild. It was up a hill on the right side of the guild and past a pretty meadow. The boy's dorm was further away. It was on a hill on the left side of the guild. There was a forest behind that was usually used for training. The boy's dorm was far away because the guild master gave up on controlling their fights.

The guild was accented by gold. A large red flag was hung outside the guild with the guild symbol and name written in gold. The wood was a reddish-brown color that matched the forest trees. The guild hall was commonly used as a hall for events.

This guild was full of charismatic and usually loud mages. Their adventures were always interesting and the guild was rarely quiet.

Sayri Vols was the guild master. She was a presence in the guild and was a big part of every event. She is usually laid-back and calm unless it comes to her niece. Sayri, along with two subordinates, work hard every day to keep the guild running.

Sayri Vols had started this guild from nothing and turned it into a something. Now it is a guild that strives to become the best.

 **A/N: This is an SYOC story. The form is on my profile if you want to send a character. Thank you all for bothering to look at my story.**


	2. The Beginning

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail. It all belongs to the wonderful _Hiro Mashima._**

 **Chapter 2: The Beginning**

"Hold on… Didn't I just pass the clearing? Yeah, it's only a few meters away!" Daria looked at the piece of paper confused. She stopped walking and looked around carefully. "Oh! My map was upside down."

Daria was getting tired of walking. She had set off on this mission alone and was quickly regretting her choice. The girl just kept getting lost in the forest. She has really wished that her teammate, Kichirou, was here. That boy had a great sense of direction and almost never got lost.

"Well, the bandits must be close now…"

Suddenly, she heard a large pounding sound. Her green eyes darted towards the thick forest in surprise. She stepped out of the way, just as a boy came sprinting past. He glanced back at her and she could clearly see the various bruises on his body.

"What?"

"I can't talk! We have to get out of her before the-"

Before he could finish speaking, they were blown backwards by a blast of air. An enormous eagle came soaring in, screeching and flapping its wings. As the eagle aimed its talon at the confused girl, he pushed her out of the way. He took the hit, gaining a large cut mark going on his right arm. He grunted in pain before a grey magic circle appeared in his hand.

"Wind Burst!" He shouted as he shot out a blast of wind at the eagle. It hit the beast's wing but did barely any damage. It grabbed him by his hoodie and lifted him into the air. Daria got up. She didn't know what was happening but she had to help him.

"Rose Whip!" She said, putting her arm out. A whip materialized with a large white rose. She swung the whip and hit the bird as hard as she could. It screamed and dropped the boy. He landed on his feet but was obviously wounded. She tied up the bird's legs and closed her eyes.

"Thorn Spurt!" Thorns erupted from the ground and rushed towards the bird. It shrieked before falling to the ground, filled with holes. The vines that held it down faded away. She took a deep breath. That took quite a bit out of her.

The red haired boy looked at her through his blue rimmed glasses. He murmured a quiet 'thanks' before wiping the dirt off his trousers and removing his torn jacket.

"Hey, are you alright?" Daria asked. He looked at her.

"I'm fine. My name is Xavier. What's your name?"

"Daria." She said smiling. She then recalled seeing him with a magic circle. That meant he was using magic. "You're a mage?"

"Yeah! I have wind magic." He replied. "And I'm guessing you have plant magic.

She nodded. They began to talk animatedly. They got along quite well and found it easy to bring up conversation.

"Are you part of a guild? Like Phoenix Wing?" She asked him. She was curious about this boy. He seemed intriguing.

"Phoenix Wing… Never heard of it." He said blankly. He looked at her with his piercing blue and she could tell he was serious.

"It's a new guild in Amaryllis town. It is full of crazy mages and awesome magic." She rolled up her right sleeve to show him the green guild mark on her upper arm. It looked like a wing with sharp edges like a flame.

He smiled. "Maybe I can join," He said quietly. All of a sudden Daria stood up and started walking away. "Where are you going?"

"I almost forgot about my mission. I have to hurry or I won't get back before dark." She stated in a rush.

"I'll go with you. If I don't you might just get lost again." He said quickly following. Daria blushed in embarrassment before sighing. She agreed and they began walking into the forest when Xavier asked,

"What are we doing anyway?" he asked. Daria smiled at him. She reached into her bag and showed him the mission paper.

 _ **A/N: Thank you all for reading my story. It really means a lot to me.  
**_ _ **The OC's that appeared in this chapter are:**_

 _ **Daria- ArchArcher**_

 _ **Xavier- Me!**_


	3. Cain's Bandits

_**A/N:**_ _ **Sorry about the late updates. I am trying to make my posts closer together but my writing just doesn't come at the right times. Anyway, on to the story!**_

 **Chapter 3: Cain's Bandits**

"Hurry up, lads! We're almost at camp." A large man said as his group walked back to their camp. He had a grey sack draped over his shoulder.

 **Cain Syri**. A highly acclaimed mercenary from the guild **Screaming Banshee**. The dark-skinned man was quite easy to notice because of his bulky build and loud voice. He was currently leading his group of bandits back from their previous job.

"Cain! Be careful with the bag!" A small boy shouted as he watched the sack bounce around wildly. Cain simply silenced him with a glare. The boy backed off and sighed.

"Here we go…" Cain dropped the bag to the floor when they reached the camp. He stretched out his shoulder before sighing. "That mission was a lot harder than they said. "

The bag moved around and bulged. Inside it, a girl was bound and gagged. One of the bandits, a young man named **Gruff** , opened the bag and dragged the girl out. She wriggled around on the floor, trying to free herself of the restraints. A weak red magic circle appeared near her hands before shattering.

"Don't even try, princess. Those chains cancel magic." Gruff exclaimed before running a hand through his dark blue hair. "I thought you would have known since it didn't work the first time."

The bandits exploded in laughter when they saw the girl glare and mumble through the cloth. Someone removed the cloth and everyone was shocked to hear a chain of vulgar language leave the small girl's mouth.

"Now, let me go!" She yelled after she stopped swearing. Once Cain recovered, he quickly dealt her a sharp kick. Others followed suit and hit the girl for her foul words.

All of a sudden, a few men screamed before getting dragged into the forest by vines. Afterwards, many others were pulled away and into the thick trees and bushes. A dead silence settled over the clearing. The remaining bandits began to fear for their lives. A deep chuckle echoed through the forest.

"Who's there?" One of the remaining bandits asked, although he was trembling and his voice cracked, he tried to sound tough. Another laugh was heard after he said that, this time though, it was a female laugh.

"Thorn Rocket!" A large golden thorn flew out from behind them. It managed to pierce through three people before shattering and fading away. Cain turned and standing in the clearing were two teenagers. A boy and a girl. The girl's magic circle (which was green with a white rose in the center) disappeared and she put her arms down.

The boy smirked before running forward. He came up next to Gruff and aimed a swift roundhouse kick to Gruff's face. Gruff just managed to duck but was caught off guard he was knocked backwards by a whip with a rose on it. Gruff flew backwards into a tree and was down for the count. Seeing this, the remaining five bandits pounced on them.

"Xavier! I'll deal with them, stop Cain!" The redhead was confused before realizing that the burly man had picked up the girl and was running away. He nodded at Daria before dashing after Cain.

"To think they would send mages after you." Cain said in his deep voice as he ran from the fight. "Lilly West must be more expensive than I thought."

Lilly growled at him. The gag was put back on and she couldn't speak. She wriggled around as much as she could, even though she was getting tired and she could feel the strength being sapped by the handcuffs on her tan wrists.

"Cain!" A voice shouted from behind. Cain looked back to see the boy from before. He began to run faster than before, set on stopping this boy from reaching him. As he did this, Lilly had a brilliant idea. She flipped her long brown hair into his face, effectively surprising Cain and making him drop her.

"Damn hair got in my eyes!" He exclaimed roughly as he scratched his eyelids in a hope t sooth the itchiness. Like a worm, Lilly started to wriggle back up through the forest and towards her savior. Xavier closed his eyes, grey magic circles appearing under his feet.

Xavier shot up into the air with his wind magic. He flew towards Cain and knocked the distracted man down. An scowl twisted his face. "You're gonna deal with me, Cain…"

 _ **A/N:**_ _ **Thank you all for reading my story this far. To those of you who submitted an OC, they are bound to appear in the next chapter or the one after that. I really struggled with this chapter so I am so sorry if you've been waiting.**_


	4. Welcome to Amaryllis!

**_A/N_** ** _: This chapter was long overdue. When I was doing this chapter there was an accident and my cousin had been put in hospital. I couldn't finish this because I spent my time with her and I was cheering her up._**

 ** _Anyways, the chapter is here now and I would like to thank all of you who sent me an OC to work with. The OC's will start appearing in this chapter and the next one. Now on with the story!_**

 ** _Chapter 4: Welcome to Amaryllis!_**

Cain glared at the red haired teen in front of him. The boy had managed to knock Cain down with a surprise attack. Xavier didn't have much muscle, meaning that if Cain managed to hit him, he would probably be sent flying. The dark man smirked before getting up.

"Ye think ye stand a chance?" Cain said as he brushed his shoulder. "Ye better watch who ye are messing with."

Xavier rolled his eyes before speeding off with his wind magic. He almost seemed to disappear from where he was. Cain looked around before turning to his left. A large red axe materialized into his hand as he blocked Xavier's attack. The redhead quickly jumped back and disappeared again, this time coming in from behind him. Cain was able to turn again and block the next attack. Xavier flew upwards and into the sky, narrowly avoiding the axe that was thrown at him. Cain took this opportunity to requip a hand axe, this time it was a yellow color. He threw the axe towards the flying boy. The axe was emitting electricity and even though Xavier dodged the blade, the electricity managed to shock him enough to make the redhead fall back to the ground. When the redhead fell, Cain seemed to teleport in front of him and smashed him into the tree with a large mallet. Xavier struggled to keep up, choosing to fly around and dodge Cain's attacks rather than attack so that the burly man would get tired enough to slow down.

The battle went like this for a while before Xavier stopped dashing around and skidded to a stop in front of Cain. _'This isn't working…'_ Xavier thought as he took ragged breaths. He saw the sturdy man look at him with a smug smile on his face. _'I thought Cain was just a muscle head but it turns out, he's quicker than he looks.'_ Xavier had to think of something quick or else he might actually lose to this guy.

"Not feeling so lucky now," The man exclaimed, watching the young boy lose his speed. If this was all that the boy got, then this fight was going to be easy. Then once the pesky redhead was out of the way, he could get the girl back and maybe even snatch the other mage. "This was just a waste of my time then."

Xavier flew straight at Cain, a magic circle appearing in his palm. Cain, who had seen Xavier's trick, sighed disappointedly. "Is that all you can do?"

But then, Xavier didn't vanish. He kept flying at full speed. Cain thought he must have gone mad. He raised his axe to block the attack but was blown backwards by an incredible force. Disorientated from the shock, he flew straight into the tree and injured his back. Using this to his advantage, Xavier took a deep breath and a large steel gray magic circle surrounded the area. He had to use a powerful spell to defeat Cain.

"Cyclone!"

* * *

"Rose Shield!" Daria summoned a large white rose. It closed around her, protecting her from the attacking bandits. She had to think of a plan quickly so she could beat them, help Xavier and save Lilly. _'What would Kichi-san do…?'_

Then it hit her like a bullet train. "That's it!" She put her hands on the sides of her flower, making it explode and knock away the enemies. She flicked her long dark away from her face and frowned at the few bandits who were still standing. The closest one with a sword came up to her and aimed a slice at her with his sword. She didn't dodge but just moved backwards slightly. The blade grazed her front, causing the other bandits to smile and jump at her. When they were all grouped together, a small smile appeared on her pale face.

"Got you!" She put her hands on the ground and a huge magic circle appeared. "Impaling Thorn!"

Suddenly, gigantic thorns burst out of the ground where the bandits stood. The thorns stabbed through the bandits, successfully getting rid of them all. It was a simple way to distract the enemy. They thought she was getting tired and easily fell for the bait. _'It worked!'_ She thought giddily.

Daria then stopped laughing and turned to where Cain and Xavier where probably fighting. The young girl, Lilly, crawled out in her restraints just as Daria finished her long, hard fight. Using her hairclip, she easily using her hairclip, she easily unlocked the girl and removed the chains. Lilly smiled before stretching her arms out. A red magic circle appeared in her palm and when a small fire lit, her grin grew wider. The brunette then looked at Daria's wound and frowned before looking up at her.

"That redhead is still fighting. Come on, we have to help." Daria nodded with a weak 'Un!' and started to jog into the thick trees. She was too tired to sprint and her injury was bleeding more than she thought it would so, a simple jog would have to do for now

The two girls walked for quite a while. They got into mindless chatter but soon, Daria knew she was hopelessly lost. Just as she was about to turn back, she heard a loud sound. Close by, a mini-tornado was blowing violently. Knowing that it was Xavier's magic, Daria started towards that direction, explaining to Lilly about what they were going to do.

* * *

Xavier grunted as he knelt on the grass. It was total chaos because of his attack and the energy drain was beginning to take its toll on him. He slowly stood up, surveying his surroundings. Some of the trees were lying down or strewn about, they grass was upside down and there was mud everywhere. He frowned when he couldn't find where Cain had disappeared to. He decided it was for the best because he had too little magic power left to fight. He collapsed onto the ground and took deep breaths, trying to regain his energy.

"Xavier?" A quiet voice asked. Xavier turned his head to two blurry figures and had to squint to recognize who he was looking at. He noticed Daria clutching her stomach and that her hand had blood dripping on it. He managed to sit up and reach his arms out, looking for the glasses that he lost when the tornado hit. Daria asked Lilly if she had any cloths with her. The other girl nodded and handed Daria her bandana. Daria sat down and quickly bandaged the cut.

"Where's Cain?" Lilly asked the boy. Xavier shook his head.

"He disappeared," Xavier said. Muttering to himself, he also added, "And so did my glasses."

Daria closed her eyes and put her cupped her hands. She took a deep breath and concentrated. Her green magic circle appeared in her hands as she started to glow white. Then two small white roses appeared in her hand and her glow faded. They were both glowing light pink and were only rose buds. She handed one to Xavier before taking the other one and putting it to her wound. The cut magically close up as the rose bud bloomed. She sighed as the flower wilted and turned to dust. Lilly inspected the cut and her eyes widened in shock. The cut was still there but it was thin and small. The blood had stopped flowing and the pained look on Daria's face disappeared.

Xavier followed suit, putting the rose on his small bruises. They started to heal and he had pretty much been good as new by the time the rose wilted.

"What is this?"

Daria looked at the boy and smiled before standing up. "The Rose of Life. It's a new technique I learned that heals injuries but so far it has minimal healing power." She helped Xavier up and took Lilly's hand. "We have to get you back to your father, ok hun?"

"Sure…" Lilly said quietly as she shook her hand out of Daria's grip before looking away and walking. The two others looked at each other before sighing and following the girl. At least they finished the mission.

* * *

 ** _Amaryllis Town, Train Station_**

"It feels so good to be back home!" Daria exclaimed occasionally spinning as she skipped with her small backpack. Xavier raised an eyebrow at the girl's actions. He walked next to her carrying his small luggage that he brought with him on the train ride. Daria gave a squeal and stopped in front of the boy. "Isn't Amaryllis great?"

He had to admit that the town looked beautiful. The houses looked like small cottages and most of the town on this side look old fashioned but peaceful. The guild was located on a hill near the south of Amaryllis and it was quite easy to spot from the train station. The building was quite large compared to the rest of the town buildings. "You're right. It's lovely."

"Just so you know, the guild members are quite… Interesting. But they are really nice people, like Kichi-san!" She started to talk about what he should expect when he enters the guild. At first her listened but soon he tuned her out as they began their trek.

Then he saw a lady quickly approaching them. She was tall and looked quite intimidating with the way she strode over to them. She had long purple hair in a high ponytail and she had matching purple eyes which were focused on the young girl next to him. She wore a stunning kimono with flower designs on it. The gold hem glinted in the late afternoon sun. Everything about her radiated strength but the thing that seemed to worry him the most was the sword that was attack to her waist.

"Daria!" She said in a powerful voice. He felt the said girl shiver at her tone.

"A-akeno!? I can explain!" She stuttered as the woman came right up to Daria's face. This was **Akeno Kuroshima** , the strongest female in the guild apart from the guild master. Famous for her electricity magic and swordsmanship that was learned from the guild master herself. Also known as a rival to even the great Titania of Fairy Tail. "Please don't tell Marcus that I took this mission."

Her hard glare was suddenly replaced with tears. "I'm so glad you're okay!" Akeno squealed as she suddenly grabbed the girl and hugged her. "Of course I won't tell him. He might have punished you if I told him and nobody is going to hurt my little sister!"

"You're Akeno Kuroshima's sister!?" Xavier exclaimed, not believing it. They looked totally different, not to mention that Akeno said her family died after a raid during one of her interviews.

"N-no! I just live with her so she calls me her sister." She explained once the S-Class mage had put her down. The boy breathed a sigh of relief, happy that it was cleared up. But his relief was suddenly lost when Akeno turned to face him with a glare in her face.

"Who are you and why are you with Daria?" She asked menacingly, quickly invading his personal space.

Daria decided to answer for him and quickly said, "He helped me with my mission and wants to join the guild!" Akeno looked at the smaller girl smile before finally standing back at her full height.

"Ok then." She turned to Xavier and said, "I will spare you because my sister approves of you." She turned back to Daria. "Have you seen Antoine by any chance?"

Daria shook her head which made Akeno frown. Akeno bid them farewell and marched off, still searching for the man name Antoine. Daria sighed and scratched her head awkwardly.

"See what I mean by interesting?" They both laughed. "She isn't even the worst of them! Just wait till you meet the others!"

She wasn't even the worst? Suddenly, Xavier began to regret his decision on joining.

 ** _A/N:_** ** _As I said earlier, most of the OC's I have are showing up next chapter. Sorry for the long wait and thanks for reading!_**

 ** _Disclaimer on new OC's:_**

 ** _Cain- My brother (He's not on fanfiction but still wanted to help me.)_**

 ** _Akeno Kuroshima- altajir95_**

 ** _Lilly- Me_**


	5. The Mages of Phoenix Soul

A/N: From this chapter, I have to warn you. There will be language so please be prepared for it.

 ** _Chapter 5: The Mages of Phoenix Wing._**

"Xavier! We're here!" Daria called, a huge smile on her face. Xavier trudged up the small slope and sighed, feeling quite tired. He was surprised at how late it was getting, the sun was slowly setting and bathed the sky in a warm orange color.

When he reached the top of the hill, amazed couldn't begin to explain how he felt. There was the large guild in the center of the hill, glinting magnificently in the late sunlight due to the gold accents and decorations. The guild was surrounded by a meadow of sorts. There was soft grass and beautiful amaryllis flowers in reds, oranges, pinks and whites. There were a couple of benches outside and there was a group of children playing football. He noticed a couple of women sitting near the match talking while drinking red wine.

The guild hall itself was also quite amazing. The building was made of this rich, reddish-brown wood which matched the forest trees behind the guild. There were multiple gold decorations on the building. The doors were lined with gold and the corners of the guild were made of gold as well. There was a large red flag with the guild symbol on it in bright golden yellow.

"Wow…" Xavier mumbled, staring at the way the hill looked. The whole seen was bathed in an attractive orange glow. He snapped out of it when he saw Daria at the end of the cobblestone pathway and in front of the guild doors, shouting at him to hurry up. He quickly jogged up to her, embarrassed to be caught so awestruck.

"You like it, huh?" Daria exclaimed once he reached her. "It is a great place to be, especially at sunset."

"Yeah," Xavier said. He was about to say more when Daria suddenly pushed him down and rolled out of the way. Xavier had never felt so scared when he saw a man come flying out the door, a trail of blood following. Upon closer inspection, Xavier noticed he had a serious nosebleed.

The tan man had dark blue hair that reached his shoulders and was most likely styled thoroughly to get that perfect messy-but-just-right-hairstyle. His white suit was beginning to stain with red. The man was **Lyken Blue** , and from the bruise on his face, he had just been punched... hard.

"That will teach you to look under my skirt, you pervert!" A deep, female voice shouted. Xavier turned away from Lyken to see the guild's sand dragon slayer, **Nene Haruna** , standing near the bar with a smoking, slightly tanned fist. Nene's hair was a blonde color with cherry highlights and was cut into a short, spiky bob. Her one red eye glinted with malice and a promise of pain for the injured man beside Daria and Xavier while the other eye was covered by a black eye patch with a red rim. Her black skirt was really short so Xavier wasn't surprised on why Lyken might have targeted her. She had a red crop top with a black leather jacket on top. She had stripy red and black, knee-high socks and black combat boots.

Daria stood up and dusted off her clothes before stepping over Lyken and into the guild.

"Hi guys!" She waved at the guild, practically glowing with happiness. "I'm back!"

A few people muttered a quiet, "Hey," but mostly Daria was ignored by the guild members. Xavier shuffled in after her, feeling like he might not survive long in this guild. He saw what an angry Akeno looks like and he saw what happens when you anger Nene and instantly, he felt very, **very** , afraid. However, he could get used to seeing the view outside the guild hall.

"Daria! Glasses! Move so I can kill this bastard!" She said angrily. She shoved poor, frightened Xavier out of the way and picked Lyken up by the collar. Xavier couldn't look but he certainly heard the screams that followed.

Daria smiled at him and helped him up, apologizing for Nene's behavior and saying that not all the mages where like that so that she could reassure Xavier. It didn't work.

"E-excuse me… Are you okay?" Xavier looked up and saw a boy with chocolate brown hair with a messy fringe and emerald green eyes. The blue jumper that the boy wore was slightly baggy. And the shirt on top of it hadn't hidden the fact that it didn't fit well.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks," He said to the boy.

"Good…" And the boy suddenly brought out a book and sat down in the corner of the guild to read. Xavier didn't even get to ask the boy's name. He hadn't ever seen him in Sorcerers Weekly unless it was a group picture. And even then he was hard to notice.

"That's Kichi-san! Sorry, I mean **Kichirou Tendo.** He's the other member of my team! He's a little shy so don't expect too much straight away." Daria explained, seeing his confused look. Xavier nodded before walking up to the bar; looking for the master so he could join the guild. He was quite scared but he promised Daria so he had to pull through.

A little girl from outside sat next to him. She had a blue dress and stockings with black flats. Her hair was pink and in two short, low and curly ponytails. She looked at him with her big blue eyes and smiled angelically.

"Hello," She held out her hand, "My name is **Maiko Vols**. Nice to meet you."

"Xavier. Nice to meet you." He reached out to shake her small hand. She was just too cute!

And then he screamed and the girl broke into laughter. On her hand was an electric buzzer. He had been pranked by an adorable little girl! He blew on his hand before glaring at the adorable little devil in front of him. He wasn't surprised on how she had tricked him. She was a wolf in sheep's clothing.

So many people in the guild laughed at him and he decided to pretend it never happened. A hand landed on him and twirled him round so they could look eye to eye. He stared right at a middle-aged woman who gave him an apologetic pat to his shoulder. She had graying pink hair in a neat bun and her skin still had a healthy glow. She was wearing a white button up blouse with dark office trousers and small black heels. But what really interested him were her eyes. They were a brilliant blue and held so much energy and youth that Xavier couldn't help but stare.

"Sorry about that. This one is such a troublemaker." She exclaimed as she moved her hand away. Her voice was deep but clear and quite beautiful. And then she turned to the little girl behind him. Xavier turned to look at Maiko, who had suddenly fallen off the stool.

"A-Au-Auntie Sayri!" She stuttered standing up and backing away from the barstool she was sitting on. "I can explain!"

 _'This is_ _ **Sayri Vols**_ _? So that's the guild master! She seemed so calm! Hold on… the little girl is her niece?'_ Xavier turned to look at her again but changed his mind about her when he saw her composure disappear. She stood up and then Xavier noticed the large blade at her back. She pinched the girls arm unnoticeably and told the girl that they would talk at home. Maiko visibly paled before running towards the corner table where Kichirou sat. Daria had retreated to the table so he just shrugged before turning back to the middle-aged woman.

"Um, excuse me?" Xavier asked as the woman. She turned her head to look at him, all her grace and elegance returned. She smiled sweetly before facing him fully. "I was wondering if I could join this guild…"

"You want to join? Wonderful!" She said, leaning down so they could look eye-to-eye. "I just have to quickly do something."

Sayri disappeared and shortly re-appeared with a young man by her side. His hair was white as snow and his eyes were a steel grey. He was quite pale and had a threatening aura surrounding him. The boy looked at him with a scowl and Xavier flinched when his glare seemed to get more menacing. Sayri merely laughed and gave the boy a note to deliver.

"Okay, what's your name?"

Xavier hesitated, suddenly feeling the stares of several people on him. "Xavier,"

"Age?"

"17…" He said quietly.

"Magic?"

"I'm a wind mage."

She smiled, "Where would you like your mark? And what color?"

"Electric blue and on my neck please," He answered, moving the collar of his blue shirt to expose his neck. Sayri brought out one of the smaller stamps and pressed it against his neck. A second later, he had a blue symbol printed onto his neck and he was officially a member. The guild cheered and decided to celebrate a new member with drinks all around. Xavier couldn't help but smile.

 ** _A/N:_** ** _Thank you for waiting for this chapter! I have started introducing other characters into the story. If your character isn't there, they will probably appear later._**

 ** _OC Disclaimer:_**

 ** _Lyken Blue: My brother_**

 ** _Nene Haruna: Animeangie_**

 ** _Kichirou Tendo: Sangai-Havoc_**

 ** _Maiko Vols: Animeangie_**

 ** _Sayri Vols: keymasterdan_**

 ** __** ** _Reviews for Chapter 4_**

 ** _altajir95- I am working on the length of my chapters._**

 ** _Martyn- It is hard to continue but I will keep going. The only problem is Ragnar being a part demon and all the monkey stuff but thank you for sending a character and reading my story._**


	6. First Mission!

Nene Haruna was not much of a morning person. In fact, she didn't hate mornings, she loathed them. However, today she couldn't have been more excited. Sayri had assigned her to taking a challenging monster hunting mission (though she was quite unhappy about having to go with the new boy, Xavier)and so she woke up early, packed and was on her way to the guild with a black and red bag hanging loosely off her shoulder.

When she entered the guild she sat down next to a certain dark haired female who was happily chatting with the bartender. Daria turned to look at the blonde who sat beside her and smiled like the summer sun.

"Morning Nene-chan!" Daria exclaimed. Nene glanced at her through the corner of her eye before ordering a drink from **Maia Treac** , the bartender nodding and looking at her from underneath her heavy bangs. Maia had dark almost navy blue hair that covered her eyes completely. She was wearing a polka dot red with a pair of black sneakers with golden shoelaces. The red dress is short above her knee and has a heart cleavage. A white apron was wrapped around her waist. Maia's tan hand reached out to grab a bottle of beer and pour a cup for the blonde girl with an eye patch.

"Morning, D." She said before enjoying the cold drink in front of her. "Have you seen Xavier? I have been assigned to his first mission."

Daria shook her head and shrugged, looking expectantly at Maia. The bartender pointed towards a familiar small teenage boy who just happened to be walking past. Daria beckoned Kichirou over who squeaked when he had to sit next to the dragon slayer rather than next to his teammate and best friend.

"Kichi-san! Do you know where Xavier is?" Kichirou perked up at the name of the redhead.

"W-well he is staying at the boy's dorms and he said h-he was going to the train s-s-station after he got y-your l-letter so he left an hour ag-"

Kichirou was interrupted by Nene suddenly jumping from her seat and grabbing his collar. He squealed girlishly as Nene shook him around. "An hour!? Oh shit! I have to go." Nene promptly dropped the terrified brunet teenager and rushed out the door, barely remembering to grab her bag in her hurry.

...

Xavier was not happy when the blonde girl did arrive. It was like all of sudden, his fear of her had completely disappeared and been replaced with the same sass as a teenage girl. Nene spent around ten minutes outside the train station, listening to him whine, complain and yell angrily. She decided it was best to listen since it was _technically_ her fault. He was mostly just complaining crankily about how she had made him rush to get ready and wake up early. He shoved the note she had sent him into her hands and she winced as he forced her to read what it said.

 _Xavier,_

 _I will be taking you on your first mission with the guild today. You better be ready by 6 or I am going to punch your face in._

 _-Nene Haruna_

Xavier had a surprisingly intense glare but the way he was pouting and nagging her really dropped his level of intimidation. _'He'll have to work on being more scary...'_ She thought before quickly focusing on the large, gold clock in the station. After his long, whiney rant, they barely managed to stop the train and board it before it left Amaryllis Station for the four hour trip to Daisy Cove.

...

"Nene?" Xavier asked in a worried tone as the usually bold dragon slayer seemed to wilt the longer they stayed on the train. "Are you okay? I have some herbs in my bag if you nee-"

He stopped speaking to make a sound of utter disgust when Nene turned to the window, opened it and proceeded to throw up.

Thoroughly.

"Oh my god!" He squeaked as he stood from his seat and took a few steps back to move away from the dragon slayer. Nene swiftly stopped and turned to glare at Xavier. Sadly for her however her glare was weak at best and she had to turn away from him and wipe her mouth. Xavier ran a hand through his cherry red hair and moved back into his seat after he was sure she had stopped hurling. He reached into his backpack and pulled out a water bottle, tossing it to the dragon slayer who caught it effortlessly. Nene chugged half of the bottle down before putting it back on the table and glaring at the floor. Xavier also pulled out a packet of small flowers that was labeled in bold and scraggly writing. It read, **"Give to Nene if she seems sick -Kichirou"** Nene reached out for the flowers and put them to her nose, the color flooding back into her face as she lay down in the chair.

"A-are you sick or s-s-something?" Xavier stuttered. Nene didn't move her head from where it was comfortably cushioned by her bag but her red eyes darted over to him. She rolled her eyes before staring back up at the ceiling of the train.

"Just goddamn motion sickness. I'm pretty sure it's a dragon slayer thing." She mumbled just loud enough for him to hear. Xavier frowned before deciding to just forget about what just happened. "Where did you get these flowers?"

"Oh, Kichirou gave them to me after finding out about our mission. Anyway, what's our mission?" He responded cheerfully. Nene handed him a sheet of paper and shifted back into a comfortable position. Her eyes fluttered closed and soon light snores could be heard.

"Hmm..." His electric blue eyes scanned quickly over the paper before he suddenly paled considerably and gaped like a goldfish. "A monster hunting mission?! B-but this seems so challenging!"

Their mission was to hunt down a monster which has been attacking a town for a week. Apparently known as Serpentina because of its reptilian body and the female voice that a victim hears before they are attacked by the monster. It gave a lot of money and was posted by a rich man from the town, not to mention the extra prize of 1 silver celestial spirit key. Xavier facepalmed as he let out a low sigh. "I always seem to attract bad luck these days."

...

"Hey, Nene?" Xavier asked as he shook his companion lightly. Nene gave an annoyed grunt in response before turning onto her side. "Nene wake up!" He tried again in vain. He shook her again and this time Nene moved her arm away from her face to glare menacingly at him. Xavier took a second to wonder how she was so intimidating with only one eye. A shiver went down his spine at the intensity of her look but Xavier was determined to wake the dragon slayer so they could get off the train before it left for its next stop.

"Nene! Do you really want to be stuck on the train for any longer? It's about to depart the station you know!" He shouted as he picked up his backpack and began to exit the train. Almost immediately, Nene's eyes shot open. She leapt up, grabbed her bag and pushed Xavier out of the doorway so she could exit the train. In fact, it was a good thing they both got out because the train doors shut behind them and the vehicle started off.

"Shit, that was close!" She gasped as she looked down at the boy who got squished under her in her mad dash to get out. Xavier had turned as red as her hair and was wriggling uncomfortably underneath her tan body. Nene just stared blankly as she rolled off him and stood up. She pulled him up with a reluctant, "Thanks..."

Xavier gave her a small smile and said, "No problem."

"Okay, we have to find the Diamante house on Capital Street. Where the fuck is that?" She asked looking around. There didn't seem to be any street signs or town maps in sight. Xavier shrugged before deciding on asking for directions.

"Excuse me miss?" Xavier asked politely as an elderly lady shuffled by the two. She turned to face them and both Nene and Xavier flinched at the sight. The old lady looked fairly normal apart from the hardened, rude scowl on her face and the large, hairy mole on the corner of her lip. In the background, Nene gave an loud, "Daaaaamn..." sound.

"What?" She asked rudely as her frown deepened at the sight of two teenagers.

"Where is this Capital Street?" Nene asked.

"Are you blind or just stupid? It's the shiny, rich-looking street right over there." She pointed before hobbling away muttering something about brainless kids.

"That ugly hag has some fucking issues." Nene exclaimed once the old lady was out of view. She rolled her eye before walking towards the large mansions, Xavier quickly following to keep up with her long strides.

...

They easily found the Diamante house after that thanks to the help of a young lady who was carrying her baby inside the garden of her huge house. Nene pressed the doorbell and took a step back from the huge building. A loud bell sound could be heard echoing around the house. Almost immediately, a small maid opened up the imposing mahogany doors. Her long pink hair up in two ringlet pigtails. Her large gold eyes blinked at them before suddenly narrowing. Her adorable look broken when her curious smile turned to a scowl.

"Tch, what do you want?" She growled out in a surprisingly deep voice. Xavier's eyes widened while Nene began to glare at the tiny girl.

"We're looking for your boss, Mr. Garret Diamante. He asked for some mages." Nene said simply as she exposed her guild mark. The girl looked at them quickly with scrutinizing eyes before sighing and welcoming them in. She lead the mages to a room on the second floor. An adorable smile replaced her scowl as she knocked politely on the door.

"Diamante-sama? The mages are here!" She said.

"Send them in!" He shouted back through the door. The maid opened the door and curtsied as the two mages passed. The pink haired girl then closed the door and disappeared down the stairs. Garret Mortimer was a stout old man with a jolly smile. He wore a nice suit with a bright red bow tie and _very_ expensive looking shoes to match. He sat them down in a sofa in his office before going behind his desk and sitting beside stacks of paper. His smile was so contagious that Xavier couldn't help but beam back at him and Nene began to smirk a little. "Hello mages! Phoenix Wing, I presume? What are your names?"

"I'm Xavier Reed. Nice to meet you."

"Nene Haruna."

"Great, great! Anyway, I assume you understand the main idea of the mission. Serpentina is said to live somewhere near the mountain just North of here. So, in order to catch before it attacks, I believe it would be best to take a station in the forest between us and the monster's home. I would have had a shack set up for you but none of the buildings survived the ferocity of the beast's power so, you two will be camping out." He explained. He handed them a sheet of details to help them recognize Serpentina before quickly standing up and ringing a bell rope to his left. A dark haired butler briskly walked in and bowed to Garret. They exchanged brisk and hushed whispers before the butler left again.

"Sorry. Victor has just gone to prepare some camping equipment for you. While we wait, could I interest you in viewing some of my companies latest outfits?" He asked. Nene raised an eyebrow.

"Outfits?"

"Oh sorry. I own a fashion company that produces very diverse clothes and we have started to branch into darker themes. Some gothic Lolita, rebel-like clothes, plain Goth and a darker color palette. I just thought you could make a great model for our next venture in the fashion world, Diamante's Sinful collection, because you fit that look so well."

Nene shot up at this as if she had just realized something. Her ruby eye sparkled. "You are the leader of Diamante Fashion House?!" She exclaimed. "I would be so honored to even look at your work!"

"Great, great!" He said with just as much enthusiasm as Nene had.

Next thing Xavier knew, they were in a large fashion studio. There were drawings and pictures of some fashion styles but it was mainly covered with darker themed outfits. Mannequins were littered in a corner of the studio with some half finished, just started and almost finished outfits. On the other side of the room was a large closet with all the finished clothes. Nene went into the walk in closet almost immediately and stared in wonder at a few gothic Lolita and dark red Victorian dresses. Garret walked in after her and urged her to try some on while they still had time. Then, as Nene was rushed into a changing room, he turned to Xavier and told him there were some male clothes he could wear as well.

Both the mages were moving in and out of changing rooms in different outfits. Garret gave very positive reviews and even made sure they took a few outfits with them to take home. By the time Victor came back with the camping gear, both Nene and Xavier had Garret Diamante's card and were told to come by anytime with their friends to try on some more outfits. Nene had exited the building with a large smile on her face while Xavier felt like he was harassed. He didn't think he could look at leather pants the same.

...

"This seems like a nice spot to camp, right Nene?" Xavier asked as he set down the folded tent he was carrying. Nene nodded with a lazy nod before yawning and putting down her things.

"It's best to get some firewood before it gets dark." She replied after a minute of silence. "I'll set up while you go get the wood."

Xavier nodded thoughtfully before rising from his stump and disappearing into the thick foliage. Nene swiftly began to work on the tent and setting up the sleeping bags. She did her job fairly quickly before lying down on her back and relaxing on the cool, dewy grass. She sighed contentedly and closed her eye as the breeze brushed past her face. It was quite a scenic day and she wouldn't have minded spending it outside if it wasn't for her anxiousness to fight the beast, Serpentina.

...

After a while of tranquil relaxation, footsteps quickly approached where Nene was lying down. Assuming it was Xavier, Nene opened her eye. The head of a small girl popped into her view. Surprised by the stranger, Nene shot up and almost head butted the little girl if it wasn't for the child's quick reflexes. With a calculating glare, Nene assessed the danger level. It was a little girl, she barely looked seven years old. She had long dark blue hair in a sort of Elsa braid. Her eyes were quite intriguing though. She had large glassy eyes, a snow white color with an almost sparkling shine to them. The girl's white sundress blew lightly in the wind and she had to hold onto her crown of flowers to avoid having it fly off. She had such an innocent curiosity that was _so_ calming. Nene had quickly regarded her as not dangerous and had managed to give the girl a small awkward smile.

" Hi! I'm Lyth, and you are?" She asked enthusiastically and stuck out her hand.

"Nene..." She shook Lyth's hand and nodded to the blue haired girl. Lyth only beamed back at her in response before going to pick some more flowers and adding them to the little woven basket in her arms. "What're you doing here? It's gonna get dark soon."

"Picking flowers for mama. And you?"

"I'm a mage. I'm doing a mission to hunt for a snake monster called Serpentina which has been attacking Daisy Cove." At Nene's response, a strange look appeared on Lyth's face. A look of horror, fear, hurt and... respect? "I'm a dragon slay-"

The next thing Nene knew, Lyth had grabbed her throat and proceeded to squeeze. The dragon slayer gasped as the air was suddenly cut off from her lungs. Nene tried to remove the bluenette's hand from her neck but Lyth had more strength than she expected. A forked, snake-like tongue flicked out of Lyth's mouth and (to Nene's horror) across the blonde's face.

"So you're calling my mama a monster? Doesn't matter to me. I just can't wait to enjoy eating my first dragon slayer's soul. Mama will be so proud that I found one."


	7. The Serpentinas

**_In this chapter, there is going to be a lot of swearing. You have been warned. Also just as a reminder, I don't own Fairy Tail and its characters, I just own the plot, the guild and my own OCs. Submitted OCs belong to their creators. If I did own Fairy Tail, the drawings would probably suck! :D_**

 ** _On with the chapter!_**

 ** _Preview:_**

The next thing Nene knew, Lyth had grabbed her throat and proceeded to squeeze. The dragon slayer gasped as the air was suddenly cut off from her lungs. Nene tried to remove the bluenette's hand from her neck but Lyth had more strength than she expected. A forked, snake-like tongue flicked out of Lyth's mouth and (to Nene's horror) across the blonde's face.

"So you're calling my mama a monster? Doesn't matter to me. I just can't wait to enjoy eating my first dragon slayer's soul. Mama will be so proud that I found one."

...

 ** _Chapter 7: The Serpentinas_**

Nene panted heavily as she gently cradled her neck. She managed a triumphant smirk in the little girl's direction. Lyth was kneeling on the ground, scratching angrily at her eyes to try remove the sand from her face which was caused by Nene's Sand Dragon Slayer's Iron Fist. Nene took a few deep breaths before standing back at her full height and glaring menacingly at the child. Lyth looked up at Nene through teary, red eyes.

"You're going to pay for that!" Lyth shouted in an angry, growly voice. Lyth tossed the crown of cyan flowers off her head. Almost instantly, the bluenette began to change. Her body grew larger slowly until she was more than double the size of Nene. Then she transformed into a reptilian creature. She had a snake like body but clawed arms and legs holding her up like she was a lizard. Briefly it reminded Nene of a sort of wingless dragon. Lyth was bright peach with a dark blue mane and the same glassy eyes she had as a human but narrowed into angry reptilian eyes with slit-like pupils.

Nene jumped backwards as a horrifying screech pierced the air. Taking Nene's surprise as an opportunity, Lyth dashed forward and smacked the dragon slayer as if she was merely a fly, causing Nene to go flying into a bulky tree. The monster raised her claws before dropping them down to tear through Nene. Just as they was about to stab the girl, something stopped her claws. Lyth peered round her hands to see Nene sitting against the tree, arms crossed in an X shape. A sandy brown magic circle appeared below the blonde and upon closer inspection, a layer of rock had covered her skin, stopping her from getting hurt. Suddenly, the rock exploded, sending the lizard monster skidding backwards with another scream.

"You know, I am actually so damn happy you attacked me, Lyth." Nene sighed contentedly before meeting with Lyth's glassy eyes and squatting low. "If you hadn't, it would have been fucking boring looking for you." Pure excitement seemed to glow in her ruby eye and Nene could feel the adrenaline pumping through her veins. Standing up, she gripped her shoulder and swung her arm around as if she was stretching before grinning devilishly and cracking her knuckles. A menacing aura suddenly erupted from the blonde and filled the clearing. Lyth suddenly felt a pang of fear run through her as Nene's grin turned downright evil.

"This is gonna be fun..."

* * *

"This should be enough for the night." Xavier said as he picked up another large branch that had fallen from the tree. Quickly placing the branch with the others in his arms, he looked out at the sky. It was probably almost sunset, considering the sun's position. Sighing, he began his slow walk back to their camp. He traced his hand across the red rope he had set up as he walked, dragging it back with him. It was a good thing too, if he hadn't brought the rope, he might have gotten horribly lost.

Suddenly, a piercing shriek echoed throughout the forest. The redhead froze in surprise as the sound made his ears start ringing. After the second screech, it was as if his brain had been jumpstarted as he quickly decided it would be quicker to fly. Summoning a steel grey magic circle under his feet, he prepared for the sudden rush of air and gripped the wood a little tighter. With a powerful gust of wind, Xavier was flying towards the camp, trying his best to follow the rope as he sped forwards. Even though he could sense the seriousness of the possible situation - ' _What if Nene was being attacked?'_ He thought. ' _She could be injured or worse!'_ \- and the growing sense of danger and menace the closer he got to the camp, Xavier couldn't help but enjoy the cool air on his face and the happy memories flying gave him.

"Crap!" He shouted before ducking under the incoming branch, "That was close! I need to focus more while I fly." He shakily landed back on the ground near the clearing after a few minutes. Stopping to take a short break to recover the lost magic power, he looked up just in time to hear Nene's voice.

"Sand Dragon's Blazing Wing!" He ran into the area and openly gawked at what he was seeing.

Sand seemed to explode from in front of him and a small shockwave of wind blew past his face. Nene had just done a flying, double front flip kick onto a giant monster and sent it crashing into the ground like a rock sinking in water. The girl came falling after it and landed feet first on its stomach, causing a tortured squeak to escape the beast. Nene sauntered towards a garland of cyan flowers ad picked them up before handcuffing Lyth with it. She stretched her arms up before sniffing and turning towards him, finally noticing his presence. Her terrifying grin disappeared and was replaced with her usual scowl.

"What took you so long? Picking up sticks isn't that fucking difficult, even for you." She asked as she proceeded to continuously wrap the monster-turned-small-girl up with thick vines. He rolled his eyes before dropping the wood unceremoniously onto the floor. "Anyways, I found one."

"One what? What exactly is she?" He stared warily at the blue haired child and then turned back to the blonde.

"A Serpentina. Most likely, the child of the monster that attacks the village." Her red eye glinted excitedly at the thought of fighting the mother. Hopefully the actual Serpentina would be more of a challenge.

Trying his best to ignore the suddenly excited look that pretty much shouted trouble, Xavier looked at Lyth and proceeded to question her. "Where are the others?"

"You think I would tell you!" Lyth spat at him. He recoiled and stepped back. He gestured for Nene to take over with the questioning before hurriedly rushing to the camp and setting up the wood for a fire. Nene shook her head and sighed before turning to face the snake child. She glared and cracked her knuckles.

"So, Lyth. Answer the motherfucking question before I make you wish you were never born." Immediately after that, Lyth was blubbering like a baby while telling them everything they needed to know. Xavier sighed as Nene walked away from the sobbing heap. "Apparently, there are 2 others apart from the mother. Lyth was the youngest and had been told to collect those magic sealing flowers so they could sneak into the village with no problems. They have a nest near the center of the forest which I can sniff out if I took some hair from her. That's all she knows."

"Oh." He nodded before looking out to see the sun get closer to the horizon. "We have to go soon or the sun will set and they will leave the nest."

"Soon? Fuck no! We leave now." She said grabbing a pocket knife from her jacket and swiftly cutting a large amount of Lyth's hair **(Poor girl, beaten up and then having her hair cut like that? tut tut)**. She briefly sniffed it before turning to the left and running in that direction. Xavier glanced back at the crying child before sighing and running after Nene.

They had been running for a while when suddenly Nene stopped, causing Xavier to bump into her back. He peeked over her shoulder just to see two teenagers with crowns of cyan flowers sitting on a fallen tree. Nene smirked before suddenly making a calm face and stepping out into the open where the two could easily see her.

"Xavier-kun? I think we're lost." She said in a fake sugary sweet voice. Xavier came out of the bushes and blinked.

"Oh no!" He faked a childish voice. Suddenly, he pretended to notice the girls. "Hello there. Can you help us out?"

They looked at each other before smirking, probably thinking they could get a nice meal after tricking the two. "Sure thing." They said simultaneously. "How can we help?" Nene shuffled towards them.

"Like this!" Suddenly, she grabbed the back of their heads and smashed their faces into the ground. Their choked sounds of surprise were enough to tell that they were surprised by the sudden strength. "So, I hear you've been eating souls with your mama. Phoenix Wing decided, let's send one of our top mages to get rid of them. So here I am."

In a flash, Nene had removed the flower crowns and jumped back to where Xavier was standing. He gaped at her. _'So that was her plan? So violent!'_ he thought before gaining his composure as the two transformed. Unlike Lyth, they had violet and indigo hair but the eyes were the same glassy white. Their manes were shorter than Lyth's and they were larger but not by far.

"Grr..." Violet growled as she set eyes on Nene. "What exactly-"

"Are you?" Indigo finished the sentence.

Nene grinned devilishly and licked her fangs. "I'm the dragon slayer..." She pointed a thumb back towards Xavier and made a blank face. "And the short glasses brat is my loyal servant boy."

Xavier bristled. "I'm not short! You're wearing huge chunky heels, that's why you're taller! Plus, I am not your servant boy!" He barked out, getting angrier with each word. But, before he could continue his loud, angry and most likely annoying rant, Violet had swiped at him. The moment the hand came at him though, he had flown into the air. His anger smoothed out as he became serious. He shot towards the distracted Violet, and punched her with a wind covered fist, causing her to go flying backwards.

At the same moment. Nene did a flying spin kick and sent Indigo to the side. She covered her hand in blazing sand. "Sand Dragon's Iron Fist!" She appeared in front of the monster and sent Indigo flying with her uppercut. Xavier sighed to himself as he glanced around the area. He didn't want to have to fight for too long so he was happy once he spotted bushes filled with the cyan flowers.

"Nene!" He shouted as dodged Violets tail attack.

"What do you want?!" She shouted back as she flipped over an attack and kicked Indigo in the process.

"Cover me for a sec, okay?" He punched Violet, sending her over to Nene.

"Only because you're a wimp who needs my help!" She jumped as she saw Violet fly towards her. She kicked Violet with a Blazing Wing, sending her flying into her sister.

Xavier flew towards the bush and quickly began collecting vines with the flowers attached. Every once in a while, he would glance back just to see Nene either pummeling a monster or doing flashy acrobatics while dodging. He would have thought she was simply showing off if it wasn't for the fact that she had even been doing it while she didn't know he was there. Soon he had a large bundle in his arms and he started to notice that Nene was slowing down. She had managed to immobilize Indigo by knocking it unconscious but was probably too tired to do the same with Violet. He flew above the battle and swiftly plopped the flowers onto Violet's head. Immediately, the monster girl shrank down and before she could remove the crown, Xavier had tied her up with the sealing flowers.

"What took you so long?" She said as she crouched down and took deep breaths. Xavier rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"Sorry, but at least it worked! Rather than fighting the larger one, we can just immobilize her with the flowers!" He exclaimed. Nene glared at him and he flinched.

"That's the wimp's route but you're lucky I feel too tired." She stretched her arms before wincing and curling back into herself.

Xavier glanced worriedly at her. "Are you okay?"

"I just got a nasty scratch from the unconscious one." He looked at the wound and shrieked. It was a large cut and it had a strange green substance around it, not to mention that there was a lot of blood.

"Nene, I think there was poison here. That would explain the tiredness too." Nene glared over at Violet and slowly walked over. Immediately, Nene questioned Violet but unlike Lyth, she wasn't scared of Nene and kept her mouth shut. Sighing, Nene just cut off some of Violet and Indigo's hair before sniffing them and walking to the right. Xavier grabbed some sealing flowers and followed after her.

* * *

"Sand Dragon's Desert Fang!" Nene appeared suddenly beside the snake monster who was laying luxuriously on the floor. Burning hot sand covered her elbow as she elbowed the large monster. Serpentina screeched and skidded backwards. She lifted a clawed, hand (paw?) and smashed it to the ground. Serpentina growled angrily after Nene suddenly disappeared before getting crushed. She sat up straight and observed the area of forest. After she had spotted the red and black, she smirked evilly. She was about to pounce when...

"Got you!" A ring of flowers dropped onto the snake monster from above. She writhed and wriggled angrily to escape the rope. Xavier dropped from the sky and kicked Serpentina, causing her to go flying face-first into the dirt as she transformed into a human. She had long dark blue hair, similar to Lyth's and glassy eyes full of hatred. Nene came out from her obvious hiding spot and slowly walked up to Serpentina with her pocket knife out.

"Now listen, you fucking snake. Your daughter poisoned me and I need an antidote." Before Serpentina could argue with her, Nene held the knife threateningly close to the monster woman's eyes. "And if you try to refuse, I guess you won't mind needing an eye patch like me."

Serpentina retracted her head and hissed. "Alright! It's just a normal wound but with a special poison that makes the user sleep. The exhaustion will wear off after a day, I think."

Nene smiled almost sweetly. "Well great then! Too bad I have to kill you anyway..." She swiftly plunged the knife into Serpentina's neck.

"What the hell?!" Xavier asked as Serpentina slumped.

"It's a monster hunting mission. **Hunting** , Xavier. I also have to get rid of the smaller ones. Maybe I could keep Lyth because she was so obedient." She said bluntly before yawning. Xavier looked horrified before frowning and putting Nene's arm around his shoulder.

"That's terrible but considering your condition, I have to help you back to the campsite and that is more important than worrying over you killing a monster." She nodded reluctantly and let him lead her back.

Once they were near the camp, Nene's eye patch got caught on a branch and ripped off her face. The blonde yelped and dropped away from him, covering her eye with one hand and searching for the eye patch with the other.

"Nene?" Xavier asked worriedly. "It's okay, I'm not squeamish so you don't need to cover the wou-"

"No! You don't fucking get it! Shut the fuck up!" She shouted and continued searching. Xavier flinched back before looking and picking up the black accessory. He handed it to her and she picked it up and placed it back on her face, tying the broken ends together. After the incident, they walked in silence all the way back to the camp.

 ** _A/N:_** ** _Things got dramatic at the end. O.O_**

 ** _Also I apologize for the rushed fights at the end. I really began to lose interest in this mission so I just decided to get it over with. I am possibly going to rewrite this if I feel inspired enough. I'm EXTREMELY sorry for my non-existant update schedule. I know that some of you might just think that I have stopped writing this story. I won't stop writing anytime soon but I can't promise to update on a schedule, especially since school started recently. I just hope you can forgive me._**

 ** _Well, see ya!_**


	8. Nene's Story

**_A/N:_** ** _Be prepared for language, comic violence, beautiful butlers and SHAMELESS ADVERTISING! THIS IS PHOENIX WING! XAVIER, do the disclaimer, de gozaru!_**

 ** _Xavier: Well author-chan does-_**

 ** _Danny: WITH ENERGY YOU WHINY TEENAGER! LIKE THIS!_**

 ** _I DON'T OWN FAIRY TAIL, IT BELONGS TO HIRO MASHIMA, DE GOZARU! I OWNLY OWN MY OWN CHARACTERS AND THE STORYLINE! THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO SENT IN OCs!, DE GOZARU!_**

 ** _Chapter 8: Nene's Story_**

Xavier lit the fire with a lighter and sighed as Nene finished changing out of her mostly denim outfit and into some pajamas. She silently approached the fire with their rations and began to roast them over the roaring flame. Xavier studied her carefully as she focused on the meat. She looked extremely tired and her scowl seemed to deepen. Her red eye showed all her worry and confusion like an open book. She was surprisingly easy to read if you tried. Her cherry-streaked hair seemed very bright against the black t-shirt she wore and he took the time to wonder how she managed to color her hair like that. He had never seen anyone with such cool hair before.

"Nene-" He was cut off when she suddenly seemed to escape from her thoughts and gave him a cold look. His question slipped away from his mind as the cold stare changed to a glare but, somehow this glare seemed different from her usual looks. She looked almost, depressed?

"Can we not talk about this right now? I really just want to sleep." She replied quietly, biting into a piece of meat before shoving it back into a container, appetite lost. She stood up and crawled into the tent.

Xavier was more than worried. Worried didn't even come close to how he felt right then. He didn't know whether to comfort her, press for the truth or leave her to brood for a while and get over it. He slowly finished eating, making sure to give her time to fall asleep. Eventually, he had to go into the tent before he was mobbed by mosquitoes. He slid into his sleeping back and laid there for a while, thinking about reasons why Nene, of all people, would react like that. Soon, he drifted off to sleep.

* * *

"Oi! Wake up before I throw you into the cove." A deep voice said. Xavier grumpily opened his eyes and looked at who woke him up. Nene Haruna, seemingly back to her normal self, gazed back at him angrily, heavy black eyeliner lining her eye and dark red on her lips. He blinked in confusion at the sudden use of makeup. "Finally! Victor had to carry you all the way back."

He looked up to see the butler standing near the door of Garret's mansion. Up close, he looked almost weirdly... beautiful? Handsome? He seemed like both. He had long black hair in a ponytail and his eyes were a startling green. "It was no problem." Victor responded in a smooth, clear baritone. Xavier was immediately jealous. How come he sounded so squeaky? _I'm 17 and I sound like I'm still 14 or something.'_ Xavier sweatdropped.

The door was opened by a maid again except this maid was different from the last one. She had white hair in a short bob. It was a great contrast to her tan skin and seemed to make her seem all the more special. Her red eyes were fairly similar to Nene's eye except they seemed softer as she gave them all a motherly smile.

"Hello Victor. I assume you guests are the mages returning from the mission? Diamante-sama is in the studio. Follow me." She turned and led them to the fashion studio. Only then did Xavier recognize the sharp changes in Nene's attire. Instead of her rocky look, she seemed a lot more elegant. She had a knee-length red, Victorian dress with lace sleeves and her hair was swept over her eye patch in a way that almost made her hard to recognize. A black leather jacket with spikes seemed to add a more Nene touch to the outfit. Soon they had entered the studio that was filled with more and more mannequins and now had models trying on outfits.

"Nene! Xavier! That was amazingly quick work. Nene had filled me in with a letter and also complained about how you wouldn't wake up so I hope you don't mind me sending Victor to get you." Xavier smiled at the jolly looking man and assured him that it was fine. The two mages had eventually received their rewards and were sent away with more clothes and air kisses. "Bye darlings!"

The train ride was as silent as their walk back to camp the last night. Nene had relaxed with the healing flowers against her nose and seemed content with the silence that fell over them. Xavier was not happy ith it but decided it was best to just pretend it never happened and just relax. He pulled a book out from his backpack and started reading to pass the time. It was only a few hours but to Xavier, it felt like an eternity and above had passed. He couldn't help but check on Nene every once in a while, just to see her snoring. He felt so stalker-ish, watching a girl sleeping so after that, he just kept reading and waiting for the train to stop at the station. He couldn't wait to finally call this mission finished and get back to talking with nicer people like Daria or maybe get to know Kichirou. Judging from Daria's stories, the boy was really nice and quite strong too.

Once the train stopped, Nene jolted up as if on reflex and blinked confusedly. Xavier dragged her out of the train quickly as they stood at the station. They walked up to the guild, stopping only to buy Nene chili peppers. He was about to reach for the door when suddenly Lyken came flying out the guild. He grabbed Nene in a bear hug and seemed to be sobbing pathetically. Nene's eye darkened as she clenched her fists.

"NENE! I missed you so much! None of the others girls wear skirts as short as you!" She raised her fist. His hands wandered up to her chest. "Plus, you're much bigger up h-" Whatever he was going to say was cut off. He was sent flying into the guild like a rocket.

"I fucking dare you to try something like that again, you perv! I'll make you wish you were never born!" She stomped into the guild and grabbed Lyken by his dark blue hair. She dragged him through a door Xavier had never noticed before. Xavier decided to ignore the loud crashing sounds and walked over to the table that Daria and Kichirou were sitting at.

"Hey Daria, Kichirou!" He exclaimed. Daria responded just as enthusiastically as she usually is an Kichirou managed a quiet 'hey' before going silent and looking away.

"So how was your mission?" Daria asked, tilting her head cutely.

"Well..." Xavier then proceeded to do a full account of his mission, excluding the whole eye patch fiasco for Nene's sake. Wait a minute... eye patch? Nene never explained!

"Do you know why Nene's wears the eye patch?" He asked. Kichirou shook his head uncertainly.

Daria piped up after a minute. "She has only told the guildmaster about it. Nobody really knows."

He turned to scan the guild, suddenly remembering the incident. He stalked over to the door where Nene had disappeared and flung the door open. He decided not to comment on the poor man who was red as a tomato and laying beat up on a barrel, nose bleeding and everywhere bleeding. He looked at Nene whose eye was darkened in anger and who looked like she was going to kill someone. Her face smoothed into a scowl after a few short breaths.

"What." It was not a question. He does not know how she does it.

"Tell me about your eye." She tensed up and looked away from him.

"What about it? It's red."

"Nene! Stop lying to me." He never realized that he had raised his voice. Members of the guild had started listen once he shouted like that. "Tell me why you have the eye patch."

"Can we not talk about this no-" Her question was interrupted.

"No! Nene, it's not fair to everyone else! I can understand if you won't tell me because I'm new here but the fact that nobody in this guild knows is wrong! A guild is a family! How can these people call you family if you won't even tell them about your battle scars. About the past that made you who you are. They need to know and I want to know." He said. Nene was speechless. He had just talked back to her and with such intensity that she was mind blown. Nobody here has ever talked to her like that and the fact that a whiny teenager had been the first one to do that was a blow to her pride.

She gazed out the door to see the guild huddled outside, eavesdropping in the most obvious way possible. For a minute or two, there was silence as Nene processed that. She looked back into Xavier's determined blue eyes. "Nene."

"Fine..." She mumbled. She moved out of the room and elbowed past the suddenly sheepish people. She moved to a table near the large mirror in the guild. Everyone huddled around the tables, trying to make sure they were in spots where they could hear. Daria and Kichirou stood on his left and Maiko sat at his right.

Nene glanced up and sighed. "Okay. My eye has a curse. Listen..."

* * *

 ** _~FLASHBACK TIME_**

"Grimm! I did it!" 7 year old Nene cried out joyfully. She dived towards the large sand colored dragon. Grymmclaw, or Grimm for short, looked up from his nap at the blonde child that attached herself to his tail.

"Oh really?" He asked. "Show me."

"Sand Dragon's Roar!" Nene shouted, a beam of earth flying into the tree in front of her. She grinned toothily as she hugged Grimm's tail again.

Lifting his tail up so that Nene could drop onto his back, Grimm hummed in approval, causing his body to rumble. Nene squealed as Grimm opened his wings and began to fly.

 ** _"Grimm was more than just a father to me. He was so much more. If it wasn't for him I would still be in that horrid desert place or worse. I might've died."_**

The blonde toddler cried as the sand blew into her face. She watched her parents walk away together, leaving their daughter in the desert on her own. They were abandoning her. She crawled forward, trying to find her way back but ended up more lost.

"Mama! Papa!" She screamed out. As she was crying helplessly, she didn't notice the snake slither up to her. It blended in with the sand and the darkening sky didn't help her predicament. Suddenly it leapt at her. With a shriek of terror she dropped out of the way. She started to move away but the snake kept following her.

 ** _"He killed the snake and took me in. But then... He disappeared."_**

She sobbed. She cried. She was hysterical. "GRIMM! Where are you?!" She cried into her hands. He said he would wait for her while she went to hunt her first beast, a giant boar. He said he would be there for her. He said he would never abandon her like her parents. He promised to stay by her side.

"You liar! Why weren't you here?" She had searched high and low. All the places he was usually. The places he was sometimes in. The places he was never at. She had searched for him everywhere bt still there was no sign of the dragon.

 ** _"Afterwards, I had ventured out to find him. I met a guild that said they were helping dragon slayers find their parents since there were a lot of them in the guild. But that was a mess up too."_**

"Frost, come with me! This is our only chance to escape!" Nene said. The blue eyed girl shook her head.

"I can't leave here. I need to find my mother."

"But Frost! You can find her with me! Here they will just experiment on us and take advantage of our magic!" The white haired girl stayed in her cell. Nene released the bars. "I made an opening for you! I got rid of the guards for you! I wanted us to be free so we could find our dragon parents! Here they won't help us. We've been here for almost a year and they have not once even found a clue or tried to solve the mystery."

Frost still refused.

"What about you guys? Melody? Tor? Caesar!" Nobody moved.

"Just give up Nene! These are the only people who would want to help us!" Tor shouted, lightning crackling around her arms.

"Fine! Stay here and die for all I care!" Nene escaped into the forest and never looked back.

 ** _"I never saw those dragon slayers again. They probably died from experiments... Then I became a freelance mage, nobody would chain me down."_**

The old man placed the gold in her satchel. "Thank you again, miss."

"No problem." She responded winking playfully and trotting off. Another job done.

 ** _"And then I got cursed. A sort of demon invades your soul thing. It the complete opposite of my personality."_**

The two Nene's looked at each other in her inner mind space. One looked scared and sensitive while the other looked confident and arrogant.

"Don't be a wimp! Let me take control! We don't have time for all this passive shit!" Nene #2 shouted.

"But I don't want to hurt the girl it's controlling!" Nene #1 replied meekly.

"So tell me how do we stop it from hurting everyone else then?"

Nene #1 stopped talking.

 ** _"I was okay with it at first. It had strong powers and I didn't mind being in the darkness when it took control but..._**

 ** _It redecorated." Nene winced._**

Nene glanced at the sign above her. "Welcome to Happyland?"

The other one made it into Happyland...

 ** _"It was a nightmare. It was all sunshine, lollipops and rainbows. There were even chappies! Do you know what a chappy is? It's a talking bunny rabbit. It was like being attacked by marshmallows!"_**

"Change it back."

"No."

"Why?"

"It's the only thing keeping me sane. You're too gloomy."

 ** _"So when the eye patch comes off... Let's say I become worse than Daria... Not to mention the unneeded side effects."_**

 ** _~FLASHBACK END_**

* * *

"Nene... You can get worse than Daria?" Xavier said incredulously. Daria pouted. "That was why you screamed at me and made it awkward?"

"It's horrible. I don't want to go back to Happyland. I barely managed to hold on to the control when the eyepatch came off. I knew you wouldn't understand."

Xavier sighed. "Maia... Can I get a drink?"

The woman was already on it.

...

 ** _A/N:_** ** _I finally got the chapter done! Just so you know, Nene isn't going to wear this outfit all the time! It was just to impress Garret Diamante. Also, I know this was not what you were expecting with the eye but it will make a lot more sense later on. By the way_** **(O.O)** ** _, in the review I noticed that Nene was more violent than you expected. Gomen, sorry! I just got carried away! I read it over and she does seem quite... extreme..._**

 ** _Anyway thank you all for readig my story! It means so much to me that you would read and to all the reviewers, have some virtual cookies since it would be weird if I had to ask for your address to get real cookies. Oh well_** **`\\_** ** _(-.-_** **)_/`** ** _You get what I mean. Anyways thanks so much and you guys rock!_**

 ** _SHAMELESS ADVERTISING CORNER!:_** ** _If you like Katekyo Hitman Reborn, please read my fanfic about it: Rantings of a Teenage Mafioso! If you don't know the show, go watch/read it! If you just don't like the show, then you suck! I kid, I kid! But seriously, read my fanfic please. Sayonara, de gozaru~_**


	9. Is It Really Her?

**_A/N:_** ** _Mild use of language in this chapter, crazy psycho sisters, quiet people saying a lot of words and of course, Xavier being dumbfounded, confused, upset, tired, etc. THIS IS PHOENIX WING! Since Xavier was a wimp last time, Archarcher's OC Daria will do the disclaimer._**

 ** _Daria: Author-chan does not own Fairy Tail or it's characters, they belong to Hiro Mashima! She only owns her own characters and the storyline! Thanks to everyone, like my creator Archarcher, for sending in an OC! Have fun!_**

 ** _Danny: See Xavier, that is how you do a disclaimer!_**

 ** _Xavier: (whines and grumbles)_**

* * *

 ** _Chapter 9: _****_Is it really her?!_**

"Xavier? We need to head to the guild now..." A quiet voice interrupted the silence of Xavier's dorm. Xavier grumpily opened his eyes and almost shrieked. Dark green eyes blinked back at him.

"Kichirou?!" Xavier shouted. Kichirou moved away from the bed and straightened up. Xavier pulled the blankets off himself. "What are you doing here?"

Kichirou glanced at his pajamas and for a second, amusement flashed into his eyes before he went back to looking emotionless. Xavier winced and turned red at that. Maybe he shouldn't have put on his penguin pajamas. Well at least it wasn't the pajamas with donuts on it. That would have been really embarrassing. Kichirou looked uncomfortable for a bit before answering.

"Marcus wants everyone at the guild now. He sent messenger owls. Daria sent me to check if you had heard since you apparently sleep too much."

"Sleep too much?" He questioned.

"Nene told us. Also, it's like 10:30." The brunet pointed towards the clock on the wall. Xavier paled.

"Well let's go!" Xavier jumped into the shower and then jumped out. He grabbed a black T-shirt, jeans, a blue hoodie and blue trainers. Kichirou glanced at the glasses the boy left on the table. Xavier was already out the door. Kichirou sighed before picking up the blue glasses and following the boy who was blindly trying to get to the guild. Well not exactly blindly, but he bumped into the wall once or twice.

* * *

Before he could open the door to the guild hall, Kichirou tapped him on the shoulder.

"What?" Xavier turned to face the smaller boy. Kichirou silently handed him the glasses. "Oh. Thanks Kichirou."

"No problem..."

"Hey Kichirou?" The brunet looked up and hummed in response. "Can I call you something shorter? Kichirou is kind of a mouthful to say everytime."

Kichirou looked thoughtful for a bit. "Well Daria always insists on calling me Kichi-san even though it sounds silly. You could call me that."

"I think I'll stick with... Kiro!"

"Kiro?"

"Kiro." And with that, Xavier turned back and walked into the guild. Inside, all the non S-class mages were gathered off to the side, next to the stage inside the large guild hall. Daria waved wildly, gesturing for the two teenage boys to go to her. She was up front on a table, saving two seats for them. Maiko and a boy were also at the same table.

Up on stage, a man stood , fuming and annoyed. He had spiky brown hair kept out of his eyes with a camouflage patterned headband. His electric blue eyes scanned over each and every face, narrowed angrily with dark brown eyebrows furrowed above them. He removed his hands from his military jacket's pockets and crossed them.

"Is that everyone?" He asked in a deep and rough voice. Maia nodded at him from the bar, a clipboard in hand. "Okay. Do you know why you are here?"

"We don't fucking know! Just tell us, Marcus!" Nene shouted from her seat at the bar.

He grit his teeth. "Nene, watch your dirty little tongue." Nene just stuck her 'dirty little' tongue out. A few strangled snickers erupted from the crowd. Marcus glared at the offenders and the laughing stopped instantly.

"Hey Daria? Who's that?" The green eyed girl looked at him in surprise.

"You don't know? Well he doesn't really like interviews so I'm not surprised. He's **Marcus Cole** but you might know him as the Colonel."

"He's the Colonel? I always thought the Colonel would be huge and terrifying. He looks surprisingly lean." He said.

"Well don't let that fool you. He's still scary and has a huge temper." Kichirou piped up quietly.

"I know that one of you took a mission that you weren't supposed too. That mission was going to be done by one of our S-classes because it was a bit too urgent for you." Marcus said. "It was the mission about rescuing the performer Lily from Cain of Screaming Banshee."

Daria flinched and hissed almost silently. Kichirou smiled amusedly and Xavier stared at the girl.

"So tell me who it was." He said. Immediately talk spread like a disease. Maiko looked meaningfully at Daria. Suddenly, an evil smile covered her face.

"Marcus? I know who did it!" Daria pleaded with Maiko silently. Kichirou laughed. Xavier laughed too.

"Oh really, Maiko? If you're pranking me, I swear I will tell your aunt." He jumped off the stage and onto the floor next to Maiko.

"It's not a trick. Daria took it!"

Marcus turned to Daria with an angry scowl. Daria shivered as their eyes met. Maiko ran off laughing with the boy and most of the guild turned to look at the drama. Nene shrugged it off and turned to continue drinking her fire whiskey.

"Daria? So one of the prime offenders. How many times is it now? 13?" He invaded her personal space like it didn't matter to him.

"Ma-Ma-Marcus! I swear it was an accident!" She squeaked.

Just as it seemed Marcus was going to explode in anger, a hand grabbed him by his dark brown hair and lifted him off the ground. Standing there in a white floral patterned kimono top with a black hakama style skirt, Akeno Kuroshima gave a murderous look. She took a step back on her straw sandals. She turned the man to face her and let go of his hair. Daria looked relieved at the appearance of her adoptive older sister.

"Marcus? What are you doing to my little sister?" Xavier wanted to run the other way at her tone. However, Marcus had other ideas.

"Disciplining her! Do you know how much extra work she has given both me and Master Sayri?" His own murderous aura clashed with hers. The guild stepped back because of the sheer pressure of their joint killer intent.

"Just leave that to me when we get home." She sent a glance at her sister. When Marcus grumbled in agreement, her terrifying demeanor disappeared. "It's good you agree. Now everyone, disperse!" She said in a sugary voice.

The entire guild scattered immediately.

* * *

Apart from that, his morning went by smoothly. Him, Daria and Kichirou got along well, he was able to talk to Nene without feeling too scared, Akeno gave him some friendly advice to not hurt Daria or she would kill him, Marcus regarded him with an accepting nod and went back to help Sayri with paperwork and the like, Maiko pranked a poor member which made him laugh really hard and Maia made him this really cool prototype drink called Air God which was based off of him. It tasted sweet and sour at the same time and was surprisingly tasty.

As he sipped his drink over some lunch, him, Kichirou and Daria talked comfortably. Well more like him and Daria talked while Kichirou gave one word answers.

"So Maia makes drinks based of everyone?" He asked.

"Yup! But people don't always drink them. They are mainly to give to fans during events and festivals. Our fans drink the drinks based of us. Maia is really good at making them."

"Except she barely ever creates a set version. It changes the more she knows about us. Like just recently, she made Nene's drink sweeter because of her backstory." Kichirou responded after Daria. That was probably the most Xavier has ever heard the boy talk.

"Mine is really sweet. It's more of a milkshake than a drink but that's okay!" Daria said.

"Mine's has a relaxed, quiet flavour."

"Antoine also makes certain foods based off us!" Daria exclaimed after a moment of silence.

Xavier blinked. "Antoine?"

"Yeah! He's French, blonde, flirty, good-looking, has a younger sister, a prett-"

Her sentence was cut off when the door to the guild opened. Silence fell over the guild at the sight of who entered the room. The light to her back as the woman walked inside. He heard Nene whistle and a few people seemed to wince. Xavier had no idea what was going on until he saw her face properly.

Dark red hair, noble eyes and shiny armor. The **Erza Scarlet** had just walked into the guild hall.

"Excuse me. Is your guild master here?" She grabbed a man by the collar and asked. He didn't respond. After a while, she lost patience and simply threw him to the side, moving onto the next person. She did it to around five people before someone stopped her.

"Oi, Titania!" Erza turned to face the voice. Nene sneered at her. "She should be in the back so stop fucking throwing people."

Erza simply turned away from Nene and walked to the back. Nene clicked her tongue before sighing and walking towards the doors. Xavier couldn't take his eyes off the redheaded woman. She was a lot prettier and a lot more terrifying than in the pictures. The things people said could not compare to actually seeing her in real life.

"Thank you." But as Erza said this, killer intent suddenly flooded the room. The malicious aura was so thick, it couldn't even be cut by a knife. Erza stopped in her tracks as a blade was pressed to her throat. Surprisingly enough, the woman didn't even look scared or threatened. In fact, she looked almost amused. "My, my."

"What are you doing here?" The figure holding the sword to Erza hissed. "Why would you just show up at my guild after bailing on one of our fights? Are you braindead Erza-chan?"

Huh?

"Of course not. I just hoped you wouldn't be around today. Besides, I didn't bail, I had important work to do."

Double huh?

The evil aura vanished like it was never there and Xavier suddenly got the courage to look up. Akeno removed the sword and sheathed it so fast he barely caught it. Akeno pouted at Erza grumpily. Erza smiled and looked at the person who blocked her path.

"Fight me." Akeno stated after a brief staring contest between the women.

"I'm not here to fight. I have an important message from Makarov that Sayri has to see."

"Just fight me and he'll tell Master during their weekly meeting." Akeno said.

Erza rolled her eyes. Xavier could not believe that **the** Erza Scarlet, Titania of Fairy Tail, could roll her eyes in such a casual manner. What happened to her being noble, untouchable, scary and awkward? She seemed so comfortable and normal that he couldn't quite believe it. Daria was laughing at his reaction and Kichirou smiled.

"Don't be so eager for battle. I won't fight you." Erza said suddenly stern. She then ducked under Akeno's outstretched arm and walked elegantly into the master's office. Akeno turned to glare at Erza's back before sighing and retreating upstairs.

"What the hell was that all about?" Xavier asked, dumbfounded.

"Well, Akeno is Erza's rival. They are sort of like best friends, I guess. Akeno always wants to fight Erza so she can beat her but sadly, Erza almost always wins. It's really fun to watch." Daria said. Xavier nodded slowly.

"Anyway, Maia also made a drink based off Akeno." Kichirou piped up, returning the conversation back to the original topic.

"Oh yeah! It's a strong margarita thing. Nene says it could probably take out an elephant and that it tastes very floral and... motherly? Well she was crazy drunk so we have no idea what she meant by motherly."

He didn't think about much until Erza came bursting out of Master Sayri's office, the older lady following after her, furrowing her pink eyebrows.

"Are you sure you don't want this job?" Sayri asked after a brief thought. Erza shook her head.

"I have to go on a mission right now so I can't do it, Laxus is nowhere to be found, Gildarts... Well you know and Mirajane is at home because of a flying bottle injury. It's too urgent to leave alone right now so master Makarov says someone in your guild should be able to handle it. "

Sayri still looked skeptical. "Why our guild?"

"Because you guys have been rivals with our guild and proved it many times. Plus, Makarov is a good friend of you so he trusts you and your members." Erza stopped her forward march and turned to face Sayri. "You have a strong guild, no need to worry about if you think it's too hard for them. Just make sure nobody pulls a Daria," The mention girls whined in protest, "And it will work out."

"Okay then. I'll post it on the S-Class board." Sayri bid the S-Class mage goodbye before going back into her office.

* * *

"Erza!" Erza blinked in surprse. Outside the guild doors, Akeno had ambushed her as well as making a crowd of guild members and ordinary civillians. "Would you rather disappoint all these people or fight me?!"

Erza frowned for a bit, looking around at all the expectant faces. Sighing, she drew her blade and pointed it at the purple haired girl. A grin broke out on Akeno's face.

Nene suddenly appeared next to Xavier, carrying Maiko on her shoulders so that the small child could see. Nene was grinning almost sadistically.

"Akeno's about to get her ass beat!" She half-whispered.

Erza requipped into her Heaven's Wheel armor and Akeno got into a strange fighting stance, her sword low to the ground and most of her weight on her left foot. The crowd cheered briefly.

"Fine. Prepare to get beaten again."

And swords clashed.

* * *

 ** _A/N:_** ** _Sorry for the abrupt cliffhanger ending, I just wanted to save this fight for a later chapter so that it can be extended more. Usually I have 2000 word chapters and I just knew that it would hit 3000 or more if I added the fight scene. I'm sorry if you wanted to see the fight but don't worry!_**

 ** _Also, I know you probably don't care too much about my personal life but recently something terrible happened. One of my friends committed suicide (T^T) . So if I don't update in a long time, that's why. Thanks for reading. Reviews are appreciated._**

 ** _SHAMELESS ADVERTISING CORNER!:_** ** _If you like Katekyo Hitman Reborn, please read my fanfic about it: Rantings of a Teenage Mafioso! If you don't know the show, go watch/read it! If you just don't like the show, then we can never be friends (T^T). Kidding! But seriously, read my fanfic please. Also, read my friend Animeangie's first story, Fruity Mew Mew: Mews Unite!. Arigato!_**


	10. Knights, Fights and Team Dynamite!

**_A/N:_** ** _Hello cupcakes! I hope you're ready because I was SO excited to write this chapter. Today, we have Kichirou doing the disclaimer!_**

 ** _Kichirou: Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima._**

 ** _Danni: That's it?_**

 ** _Kichirou: Isn't that all you need?_**

 ** _Danni: ..._**

 ** _Danni: True..._**

 ** _Well, enjoy!_**

 ** _Chapter 10: Knights, Fights and Team Dynamite?!_**

* * *

 _Erza requipped into her Heaven's Wheel armor and Akeno got into a strange fighting stance, her sword low to the ground and most of her weight on her left foot. The crowd cheered briefly._

 _"Fine. Prepare to get beaten again."_

 _And swords clashed._

* * *

Swords immediately launched towards Akeno. The purple haired woman jumped forward, twisting acrobatically to dodge two incoming blades before stepping on one of the swords and jumping off the hilt, making her fly above the onslaught of silver swords.

"Heaven Shaking Slash!" Akeno's blade pulsed with electricity as she let out a battle cry. She swung her blade down, a deep rumble echoing as the lightning flew towards Erza. The redhead requipped almost instantly into her Lightning Empress Armor once she realized she would be unable to dodge. The lightning struck her and Erza grunted as she was sent skidded backwards by the force of the attack. The apple tree behind Erza didn't have the armor and was sliced in half, the leaves burning away.

"Woah..." Xavier mumbled, watching the women clashing in awe.

Changing to her Black Wing armor, Erza flew upwards until she was at the same height as Akeno. She flew towards the purple haired woman. Her red ponytail swung wildly behind her as she slashed with the black great sword. For a second, nobody moved. Erza smirked at Akeno as she clutched at the suddenly bleeding wound on her arm.

"Erza-sama!" Akeno glared at Erza. "Lightning Burst Tower!" Akeno dropped to the ground, slamming her hand into the grass. Erza's eyes widened as the attack hit her. A huge beam of lightning exploded from the ground and engulfed Titania. Since she didn't expect such a rapid attack, she didn't have time to requip into a more defensive armor.

Cheers erupted from the crowd as Erza was hit directly by Akeno's attack. Daria suddenly rushed away from Xavier's side and to a far corner of the crowd. "Can I change my bet to Akeno-nee?" Xavier shook his head at the fact that Daria had bet against her sister in the first place.

Erza flew out of the pillar of lightning, bruises and burn marks on her body. She came crashing down, swinging her sword at Akeno. Akeno sidestepped it and seemed to get angrier as a part of her long purple hair was cut off. Akeno sliced at the redhead's exposed midriff but Erza managed to jump back just in time.

"You improved Akeno." Erza said, her voice showing no signs of fatigue.

"Maybe you've gotten weaker, Erza-sama." Akeno said back.

"We'll see about that." Erza requipped into her Heaven's Wheel armor again. Her long white skirt blew in the wind as she smiled at Akeno. "Dance, my swords!"

A circle of swords appeared around Erza when she got into a fighting stance. The swords spun around Erza as she flew at Akeno. Akeno easily dove to the side as the attack soared past her. Erza took this moment of distraction to swing one of her swords at Akeno. The purple haired woman cursed under her breath as the sword cut into her shoulder, slicing into her white kimono top like it was nothing.

"Never mind! Keep my vote on Erza!" Daria said as she returned to the betting station. Xavier facepalmed and Kichirou just gave him a quick glance before focusing on the fight again.

"Lightning Pulse." Akeno grabbed onto Erza and smirked. Electricity licked up Akeno's arms. There was a bright explosion of lightning from where the two stood. Xavier covered his eyes with his hands at the blinding light. There was a loud sound of metal against metal before a yelp of pain was heard.

When the light cleared, Erza stood in her Lightning Empress Armor, looking down at a fallen Akeno and barely harmed by the attack. Akeno groaned as the spear that was imbedded into her stomach was removed and Erza gently rubbed at her burnt face before shaking the Spear of Lighting to remove the blood from it. The heavily injured woman grit her teeth as she tried to get up from her hands and knees but failed, instead rolling so she lay on her back and faced her rival. Erza requipped into her normal Heart Kruez armor. Her red hair flowed loose behind her as she pointed the sword at Akeno's unprotected neck.

"I win." Erza stated smugly before retracting her sword and letting it disappear.

"This time..." Akeno grumbled, slowly sitting up.

"I have to be off now or I'll miss the train. Can someone take her to the infirmary?" Erza said, helping Akeno get up.

"I'll take her." A rough voice said from the crowd. Xavier turned to look at who it belonged to. He was tall and slightly pale, looking forwards with sleepy, lidded gold eyes. His dark blue crew cut suited him well and the large scar across the bridge of his nose made him seem sort of threatening. His hoodie wasn't up so Xavier was able to see his face. Well, most of it, seeing as a black mask covered his mouth and nose.

"Ah! **Fukuro Tori** , correct? Make sure she's okay." He took Akeno from Erza with bandaged hands and a dark purple magic circle appeared underneath his feet. The silver skull necklace clinked together as space seemed to shift. Then, both he and Akeno were gone.

* * *

As they waved Erza off, Daria noticed the bandaged Akeno muttering angrily and looking away. Daria giggled quietly before waving enthusiastically and saying goodbye to her adopted sister's rival.

"You voted against your own sister..." Xavier said blankly once they were in the guild hall again.

"Well I changed my vote to Akeno-nee!"

"But you changed it back to Erza!" Xavier exclaimed. Kichirou chuckled to himself as Xavier looked like he was about to rant about it.

Everything seemed to shift into a much more normal pace. Nene was draped over the bar, a mug of alcohol in one hand and a Sorcerer's Weekly in the other. Maiko was swinging her legs as she sat on a barstool while reading a book boredly. Kichirou was silently observing his one-sided argument as he shouted at Daria who just laughed and tried to calm him down. Akeno had been dragged away from her sister by Marcus so she could help both him and Master Sayri with paperwork and managing the guild. Lyken was hitting on one of the ladies who proceeded to shove their boot into his face, sending the pervert sinking to the ground in pain.

Xavier could almost call it peaceful.

* * *

Too bad the world decided that peace was overrated.

"LUKE!" Maiko screamed, smiling and flying at the door. There was a boyish yelp as the pink haired girl crashed into someone who was about to enter the guild.

After that, a feminine sigh was heard as a young girl walked in. Her dark pink eyes glared over the guild as she walked towards the bar on black ankle boots. Her dirty blonde hair swinging in her short ponytail. Due to her chubby baby face, it was obvious that she was young, probably not even a teenager yet, but she dressed like she was older than she was. She had a hot pink miniskirt with a black leather vest and white tube top. If the multiple piercings on her ears were any indication, she was a rebel.

Another girl walked in after her though she was less... rebellious looking. Unlike the girl before her, her large purple eyes looked frail behind her huge, Harry Potter-esque round glasses. She was clearly shorter than the girl before her and her black hair reached half way past her back in her low pigtails. Her white skirt reached her ankles and her black elbow length top had fringe along the bottom just like the skirt. The white handkerchief around her neck was tied tightly. Her name was **Lavanda** if the magazines were correct. She spun around on her dark brown flats and spoke in a quiet voice.

"I didn't know you were so weak that even tiny girls like Maiko could push you over." Maiko shouted a small 'Hey!' in protest which caused the dark haired girl to chuckle.

"Sh-shut up! I wasn't expecting it, that's all!" The boy said, finally entering the guild with a comically crying Maiko attached to his leg, dragging along the ground while blubbering. He had sandy brown hair and dark eyes. They were purple in the light but the moment he moved away from the sun, they darkened to an almost black color. His purple t-shirt with a fist printed on it contrasted greatly with his eyes but it suited him. His jean shorts were rolled up just above his knees. He detached Maiko from his black and green trainers and helped her stand up.

"I missed you so much! Why didn't you tell me you were going on a week-long mission with Lavanda and..." Maiko trailed off as she cast a sullen look at the blonde child who handed in the reward at the bar. **Angelique Valentine** , leader of the Phoenix Wing junior team, Team Dynamite. Named that way because as Angelique put it, they were going to blow you away.

 **Luke Adonius** smiled at Maiko. "I told you, Angie's changed. She wouldn't hurt anybody unless they were enemies of the peace." Something in Maiko's eyes showed disbelief. Or that maybe that wasn't the reason.

"Okay." She pouted and took a step away from him, "But what kind of best friend just leaves without saying anything. I had pranks that I planned for us to do to Auntie Sayri."

"Oh please no. Last time, your aunt tied me up and ate cake in front of me without letting me have any!"

"So?"

"It was dinner! I was starving." He complained as the two fell into casual banter.

"Oh don't mind them. Maiko never liked Angelique even though her best friend, Luke, is friends with Angelique. Lavanda is a bit shy though so she usually just reads." Daria said. Xavier turned away from them and sighed.

* * *

The world apparently wasn't done yet.

"What the fuck! Give it back you asshole!" Nene shouted, glaring menacingly down at a teen. His wild, lava red hair framed his tan face nicely and he looked up at Nene with sparkling green eyes. He bit into the meat in his hand as his monkey tail swished behind him.

"Give what back?" He mumbled around the meat. His brown shirt with red trimmings was left unzipped, giving a clear view of his lightly muscled chest. A belt went from his left shoulder and the right of his waist. Sauce splashed onto his gold arm protectors and green puffy trousers. He looked sort of strange because of the top of a knight's helmet but it suited him. Xavier made a face once he noticed the lack of shoes and the grime that coated his feet.

"My fucking meat you goddamn monkey!" She yelled grabbing the meat from his hands.

"Hey! But that's mine!" **Ragnar** yelled back.

"But I ordered it and Maia brought it out for me! Why would it be yours?"

"It's not right to steal my food, Nene!" He shouted. Nene glared at him, a menacing aura emanating off her. He looked ready to say something else before Nene clicked her tongue and punched him in the face. He flew backwards. "OW!"

He suddenly burst into tears and sat in a corner of the guild, shading his eyes with his helmet to stop people from seeing them. Nene just rolled her eyes before turning back to her seat and sitting down, ripping the part of meat that Ragnar touched and only eating the meat he didn't bite from or hold.

"What the hell just happened?" Xavier mumbled.

"Ragnar? He likes food and usually takes people's food without knowing it. Nene hates that so this kind of thing is normal." Kichirou explained this time. Xavier wasn't sure if he was ready to deal with this craziness so he just turned around and lay his head on the table with a groan.

* * *

"Do you have to go now?" Xavier heard a man say in a sort of whine that sounded too... melodious to actually be a whine.

"Yeah, I have to make sure Kate is keeping the shop okay. I don't want my shop to be a mess just before the rush hour." A sugary voice replied.

" Alright. See you babe." A deep, smooth voice said. He turned to see a tall, incredibly handsome blonde man lean down. He gave a chaste kiss to the short, orange haired woman next to him. The woman turned red and smiled shyly before walking out the guild. The blonde waved her off before sighing and walking away from the doors and towards his table. He almost instantly recognized this man as **Antoine Valentine** , brother to the leader of Team Dynamite, S-Class mage of Phoenix Wing and a poster model for the guild.

'Wait. Why is he coming to my table?' Xavier thought, eyes widening as the man closed the distance with graceful strides.

His dark red eyes quickly studied Xavier before darting back to a place behind him. Xavier turned to see Daria exactly where the man was looking. As the man stopped in front of their table, Xavier used this chance to observe him up close. His eyes were darker than Nene's and held so much more intensity. His red button-up shirt was left open at the top two buttons, exposing the top of his pale chest. His jeans were tight and dark and his dark shoes were spotless. It was as if he didn't have a fleck of dirt on his body. He ran a large hand through his hair and pushed the messy bangs back, exposing his forehead even though a couple strands refused to cooperate.

"Oh Antoine! Akeno's looking for you." Daria said as she looked up at his tall form with her emerald eyes.

"Shhh! Don't tell her I'm back. She's gonna kill me." He winked at her before pausing for a moment and then speaking, "Hey Daria, I think Rae has been working too hard recently. I was thinking, maybe I could take her out but I wasn't sure what I should do. So... Mind helping a guy out?" He asked.

"Of course Antoine! I would do anything for love! Xavier, Kichirou and I will help you!" She exclaimed, standing up and doing an flashy pose, legs apart, a cutesy wink, hands pressed to her chest in a heart symbol and sparkles flying. Antoine smiled charmingly at the three of them before disappearing behind the bar to help out Maia.

"Wait, what am I doing?"

* * *

 ** _A/N:_** ** _YES! This chapter went from awesome fights to character introductions and finished with Xavier, Kichirou and Daria getting a special mission._**

* * *

 ** _NEXT TIME ON PHOENIX WING:_**

 _"Why do we have to stalk this poor baker?"Xavier asked as they ducked behind a bush._  
 _"Because we are the love ninjas." Kichirou deadpanned. "Nin-nin."_

 _"We have to save this romance!" Daria exclaimed._  
 _"Is it even in danger?" The redhead asked._

 _"Are we really doing this right now? Like, seriously. This is a joke right? Right?"_

* * *

 ** _I introduced a bunch of characters this chapter. YAY! If you're character still hasn't shown up, chances are, they either appear much later, have a special arc or appear during the next arc. Sorry if you are still waiting! I just didn't want to force all the characters in at once. I wanted the story to flow better._**

 ** _SHAMELESS ADVERTISING CORNER!:_** ** _If you like Katekyo Hitman Reborn, please read my fanfic about it: Rantings of a Teenage Mafioso! If you don't know the show, go watch/read it! . Also, read my friend Animeangie's first story, Fruity Mew Mew: Mews Unite!. Arigato!_**

 ** _Sayonara, desu~!_**


	11. The Love Ninja's Dance Disaster!

**_A/N:_** ** _Well, well, well. Good morning/afternoon/evening readers. Today, we have Nene doing the disclaimer._**

 ** _Nene: Listen up fuc-_**

 ** _Danni: Language!_**

 ** _Nene: Fine... *Eye Roll* Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima. Author bit-_**

 ** _Danni: Hey!_**

 ** _Nene: Biscuit, only owns the storyline and her own OCs. Thanks if you sent a character and enjoy the chapter._**

 ** _Nene: Happy now?_**

 ** _Danni: *Cocky smirk* Yes._**

 ** _Chapter 11:_** ** _The Love Ninja's Dance Disaster!_**

"Why do we have to stalk this poor baker?"Xavier asked as they ducked behind a bush.

"Because we are the love ninjas." Kichirou deadpanned. "Nin-nin."

As Xavier watched his two partners as they walked through Amaryllis, he couldn't help but wonder why he even agreed to join this guild. Daria had insisted on wearing disguises and following Antoine's girlfriend, Rae, around to see what she liked.

Daria was dressed up in the most ridiculous disguise he's ever seen. She had a gigantic twirly moustache that matched her dark black hair and huge glasses that dulled the emerald green color of her eyes. She was slouching and hobbling around on a walking stick. She had on these gigantic baggy trousers that were incredibly wrinkled and a t-shirt that was just as ill-fitting. How is it even possible for the girl to go from pretty green skirts with white dress shirts, wooden sandals and general adorable-ness to... this old man costume?

Kichirou on the other hand looked very much like a girl. Xavier was pretty sure Daria had planned their outfits because Kichirou looked quite uncomfortable in his outfit. Apparently, Daria seemed to like cosplay because she had arrived at the boy's dorm early the next day with boxes and bags full of stuff. Well, Akeno helped with carrying most of it but Daria did all the costuming.

 _'This can't be real.'_ He thought as he remembered the costuming phase of this operation.

We're getting off track, back to describing Kichirou. His lean and slim build worked to Daria's advantage so it wasn't that hard to find one of her dresses that he could fit in. He was wearing a dark green maxi dress with sneakers. He had originally been supposed to wear her heels but after falling down the stairs, he had adamantly refused to wear them and instead put on some of his trainers. He was given a wig that matched his natural hair color and man, did he rock the wavy bob cut. There were quite a few dresses he could fit into but he refused to wear any backless ones. In fact, he had a jacket on right now and insisted that he might just be feeling sick. It was weird because even though Daria looked awfully strange, Kichirou made a perfect looking teenage girl.

Xavier sighed as he glanced down at himself. Daria also forced him to dress up like a girl. Well technically, Akeno forced him to or else he would have been gutted like a fish. It was impossible to find one of Daria's clothes that fit him nicely since he was so much taller than her. Plus he had a wider build than Kichirou. Any of the clothes that were wide enough, were still crazy short and Xavier was not comfortable with anything being crazy short.

* * *

So they took a short detour to the girl's dorm because he wasn't really in the mood to be gutted like a fish. Eventually they stopped in front of a door with target's painted on. Not to mention bullet holes as well.

"Who's room is this?" Xavier asked worriedly. Why would there be gunshots in someone's room door?

" **Saika Deadshot**. She is one of the tallest women in the guild so I think she'll have something you can fit in." Daria knocked on the door. "Saika-san!"

The door opened to reveal a tall woman with a bolt action sniper rifle held to her hip. As she spoke, her thick country accent was new and intriguing to Xavier. "Oh. Mornin' Daria, Kichirou." Her pale green eyes darted over to Xavier. " 'ave we met before?"

"No. I'm new here. My name's-"

" Ya must be Xavier! Akeno talks so much about how much she'll kill ya if ya hurt Daria. Nice to finally meet ya." She stuck out her hand, smirking. Xavier paled but shook her hand.

Saika was quite beautiful, he had to admit. She had olive skin and a buxom figure which made her get all sorts of attention. Her long auburn hair was in a high ponytail and her smirk was bold like her personality. He flinched when he saw the crossing bandoliers of bullets that were over her red tank top. She had an orange and black jacket that just barely covered the belt with bullet pouches. Her black pants matched the jacket and her boots finished off the look. Goggles lay on top of her head as her confident smirk melted into a smile.

"So, what brings ya here at this time? Other than to check me out of course." The last part was directed at the redhead, snapping him out of his observation. Xavier blushed as deep as his hair.

"We need an outfit for Xavier as a disguise. My clothes won't fit since I'm smaller than him. Can you lend us something?" Daria explained.

"Go right ahead. 'M going for some target practice so lock the door and give my keys to Maia. I'll take 'em later." She walked past and as she passed, she smacked Xavier's backside earning a shiver from the boy. "You better rock my clothes, Red."

And she was off in a fit of laughter.

* * *

So here he was wearing leather trousers and a brown tube top with a target pattern on the left side. He had some high heeled boots on which only made him seem taller. He was surprisingly good at walking in heels. Daria gave him a wig with long dark pink hair in a low ponytail. He was a little disorientated when he first put on some contacts but once he was a little comfortable with them, he was given contacts that made his electric blue eyes look blood red. He felt awfully edgy compared to the feminine look of Kichirou and the weird old man look of Daria.

"Zoey, Kate." Oh yes, and they have codenames. Xavier looked down at Daria. "She's going in the bakery. Who's going in?"

"I'll take this David." Kichirou said, getting psyched so he could pull it off. "Wish me luck."

Xavier nodded at Kichirou and wished him good luck. Daria did the same while twirling her moustache. Xavier started to believe the costumes were just so she could wear the moustache.

* * *

 ** _(A/N: This is in Rae's eyes so Kichirou will go by his disguised gender!)_**

Rae finished tying her apron just as the bell above the door rang. A woman walked into the bakery in a dark green maxi dress. Personally, Rae had to admit that she rocked her short wavy bob.

"Hello. How may I help you?" Rae asked politely, giving a small bow.

"Umm... A chocolate cake please. Can it be done quickly?" The woman asked.

"Well, ma'am, it will probably take at least an hour. Where should we deliver it to?"

"I'll wait, it's fine."

As Rae set to work on adding the ingredients, the woman gazed around, inspecting everything from the pictures of her and Antoine in the back to the tiny heart decorations that were painted on the walls.

"May I ask your name?" Rae asked as she mixed the ingredients together.

"Kate and you?"

"I'm Rae Wells, owner of this lovely bakery that my boyfriend bought me." She responded. Kate's eyes widened.

"He _bought_ you _a bakery_?!" Kate almost shouted.

"Yeah! Isn't that sweet? That's why it's named Valentine Cakery Bakery, it's named after him, Antoine Valentine. Since I loved baking, for our two year anniversary a few days back, he decided to buy me a bakery."

"You've been together for two years? Wow."

"He's such a cinnamon bun. I love him so much."

"Well what do you like doing with him?" Kate asked, a notebook in hand.

"Well, I like it when he does something grand and romantic." Rae began, "I also like-"

"I see. Well, just send the cake to Phoenix Wing and I'll promise to pay for it later. Bye!" Kate suddenly stood up and waltzed out of the doors, a sinister smile on her face. Rae blinked before sighing and putting the cake in the oven.

* * *

"We have to save this romance!" Daria exclaimed as the climbed up the hill towards Phoenix Wing.

"Is it even in danger?" The redhead asked. Daria shushed him as she went to the guild hall to recruit help. Of course, she had stopped walking weird and removed the glasses but she kept the moustache on. Xavier and Kichirou stayed in full costume because it was awfully hard to get into these and they didn't want to have to do it all over again.

As Daria was inside, asking a few people to assist, Xavier and Kichirou sat down on one of the benches and the redhead thought this was the perfect time to get to know the brunet, seeing as they were friends now.

"Kiro?" The brunet hummed to show he was listening. "When did you and Daria join the guild? You seem like best friends."

"Well... We are. I joined a little bit after Daria when we were younger. Around 14? She started saying I was adorable and we've been friends ever since." Kichirou said. Not looking up from where his eyes were fixed on his sneakers.

"Oh wow! That makes me feel like I'm imposing or something." Xavier laughed, scratching the back of his neck.

Kichirou looked up at him with a blank face. "You are."

Xavier's heart sank. He made a distressed sound before starting to stand up. He was turning to walk away. "I see... I'm sorry, Kichirou. I can just find another te-"

"It was a joke." Kichirou said suddenly, grabbing Xavier's arm and tugging him down with a surprising amount of strength. The redhead turned to see Kichirou look at him with amused green eyes, a gentle smile gracing his features.

"Oh." Xavier blinked before he started to laugh. "Kiro, you idiot! I thought I was actually ruining something!"

Kichirou also started to laugh as Xavier hit his back playfully. Daria walked out with a few members and stared curiously as the boys laughed and talked. Well more like Xavier talked about some of his previous adventures while Kichirou listened. It was refreshing.

* * *

"This is Ayazi-chan! Full name, **Ayazi Asakina**." Daria made an exaggerated gesture towards Ayazi. The girl was slender with slight curves. Her icy blue eyes were looking down as a blush painted her pale face red with embarrassment. Her long light blue hair lay down to her hips in pigtails tied by white bows. Her hands were clasped behind her knee-high, blue and white Lolita with bows on both sides of her hips. She rocked on her blue shoes and her Lolita coat flew behind her in the wind.

"H-hi." She said in a meek voice.

"Hey."

"I'm **Sandra Esra!"** A girl said, bouncing up towards Xavier. She had a side ponytail with long snow white hair. Her lavender eyes glittered cheerfully in the light. Her pale hand reached out and he shook it. She looked awfully strange with her black and white shrine maiden outfit which contrasted with the two extravagant gold bracelets on her wrist and the pouch of keys on her other side. "You must be Xavier! Thanks! Nene gave me the key you got on your mission."

"Oh. I was wondering how Nene would use that celestial spirit key." He said thoughtfully.

"Well now, you know! I always wanted this key." She said dreamily, hugging the silver key to her chest.

" **Chris Valen**." Xavier turned to face the speaker. He was tall. He was around the same height as Xavier, if not taller. He had dirty blonde hair in long spikes. His bright yellow eyes held an energy that radiated off him. He was handsome and he was lean but muscular. His black jacket had a fur collar and was unzipped, revealing a plain white T-shirt. He had tight dark yellow jeans and his dark shoe tapped against the floor in a rhythm. His grin was contagious and soon, Xavier was smiling too.

"You're Soleil King! Nice to meet you." Xavier exclaimed. After that, his gaze drifted to look at the others around him. Nene stood there, a bored look on her face that was still quite angry looking. An unfortunate case of RBF* if you ask Xavier. Ragnar was also being manhandled by the blonde woman, looking not bothered at all at being treated like a sack of potatoes.

"Nene and Ragnar too?" Xavier asked. Nene's eye darted over to look at him.

"I was bored and he's annoying." She pointed at the man who was slung over her shoulder, eating some meat without a care in the world.

"I see..."

"So Daria, what are we doing?" Sandra asked bouncing up to the girl in question. "I want to help Antoine and Rae!"

"We are going to open a cafe!" Daria said, sparkling and excited.

"Wait, what? Hold the fuck up." Nene said, dropping the red haired male onto the grass, earning a wimpy protest from the monkey boy.

"I'm not done! After that, we're going to dedicate this song and a dance to Rae!" Kichirou snatched the song lyrics from his best friend. After reading it, which was a struggle because of Daria's messy writing, he started to chuckle.

"This... is going to be fun."

* * *

"Are we really doing this right now? Like, seriously. This is a joke right? Right?" Xavier said as he stumbled out of the changing rooms. He finally was able to remove the girl disguise but had been forced to instead put on the waiter's uniform. From across the room, Nene shook her head, depressing aura radiating in waves at the thought of the girly waitress dress she was wearing.

"So, by now you have to have learnt the song and the dance guys. Pick your partners!" She shouted. "Hurry up though. Rae and Antoine will be here any minute."

Immediately, Xavier made a beeline for Daria, not yet very comfortable with anyone else. Just as he was about to lay a hand on her shoulder and ask, her green eyes focused on someone else.

"Hey Daria, want to be my partner?" Kichirou asked.

"Sure Kichi-san!" Kichirou's emerald eyes looked over Daria to see Xavier, who was just about to ask. The brunet smirked at the redhead before leading Daria off to do some last minute practice. Xavier grit his teeth at the evil smirk.

He glanced over at the others.

"Ragnar!" Sandra called, skipping over to the redhead on the counter. He looked up from playing with his pet ferret, **Scarf**.

"Yeah?" He asked, Scarf wrapping around his neck like... a scarf.

"Let's be partners!" Ragnar shrugged and hopped off the counter, proceeding to spin her around in a drunk-looking waltz. Across from them, Nene looked towards Xavier before she was suddenly tugged aside by an arm and twirled.

"Chris! The fuck?" She shouted angrily as he dipped her.

"Come on, Nene. Dance with me!" He laughed twirling her around again. Growling, she grabbed him by the ear and stomped off, yelling profanities. "Oi, Oi! That hurts, Nene-chan!"

"Don't call me Nene-chan!"

Reluctantly, Xavier turned to face icy blue eyes.

"I guess we're partners Xavier-san." He gazed down at Ayazi. Might as well get comfortable as partners.

* * *

"Nene?!" Rae exclaimed as the blonde woman came to serve her and Antoine.

"Yes." She grit her teeth. "What can I get you?"

"We'll have the special." Antoine said. Nene nodded and walked off, grumbling.

"What was that about?" The orangette asked, looking towards her lover.

"I have no idea. Just, relax."

* * *

Suddenly, once they finished their meal, the lights went dark. A spotlight shone on stage a girl with dark hair stepped into the light. Her green eyes matched with her short, green vintage organza dress. She sang softly.

" **If this is to end in fire**

 **Then we should all burn together**

 **Watch the flames climb high into the night**

 **Calling out father, oh**

 **Stand by and we will**

 **Watch the flames burn auburn on**

 **The mountain side, high."**

Two girls joined her side and joined in her gentle melody. One had white hair and a lavender vintage organza dress while the other had an icy blue dress that matched her eyes and hair.

"Daria! Hey, that's Ayazi and Sandra too." Rae whispered in confusion and surprise. Antoine wanted to laugh at the face she was making but instead looked to the side with a small chuckle.

 **"And if we should die tonight**

 **We should all die together**

 **Raise a glass of wine for the last time**

 **Calling out father, oh**

 **Prepare as we will**

 **Watch the flames burn auburn on**

 **The mountain side**

 **Desolation comes upon the sky."**

All of a sudden, three male voices harmonized with them and joined in the song. Xavier, Ragnar and Kichirou stepped out in a blue suit, black suit and green suit respectively.

" **Now I see fire**

 **Inside the mountain**

 **I see fire**

 **Burning the trees**

 **And I see fire**

 **Hollowing souls**

 **I see fire**

 **Blood in the breeze**

 **And I hope that you remember me..."**

And then the music picked up. It quickened into a sort of tango number and all of a sudden, Nene and Chris came dancing in through the back. Nene's hair was brushed over her eye patch as side swept bangs and the rest of it was pinned out of her face.

The singers parted like a wave as the two dressed in red showed up and tangoed to the front. Xavier grabbed Ayazi's hand as the pairs began to dance.

Clapping echoed through the cafe as the customers cheered. The chorus of voices added with the dancing was amazing.

* * *

Until it all went wrong.

Sandra, who was dancing a bit too wildly, stepped on Ragnar's bare foot, sending the monkey reeling backwards in pain and shock. He bumped into Daria and sent her flying into Kichirou's chest and knocking him over. Ayazi, who was in the middle of being twirled, tripped over the fallen pair and went teetering off stage in her heels while Xavier fell forwards, turning it into a dog pile on Kichirou, who simply whined pathetically at the added weight. While Ayazi went tumbling off stage, she swung her arms around to try slow herself down and gain her balance but only succeeded in grabbing Nene's dress and pulling the blonde, who was screaming profanities and curses, down with her.

Chris just gaped in shock as he looked at the girl who started it all. Sandra was blinking in surprise and turned red from embarrassment.

Antoine was laughing so hard that he had to grip the table for support. Rae was making sure the girls who fell off stage were okay but her smile proved she was amused and just before she ran towards Nene and Ayazi, she was laughing as hard as the French man was.

In fact, the entire audience seemed to be laughing or smiling because of the horrible failure.

* * *

 ** _The next day, Phoenix Wing Infirmary_**

"You guys were a big help. Tell Nene and Chris that too." Antoine said as he sat near Kichirou and Ragnar's beds. Daria, Sandra, Ayazi and Xavier stood near him.

"I'll be going for a mission today." He stated, standing up and stretching. His red eyes glinted in amusement. "Rae loosened up a lot more. But you know, you didn't have to do something so crazy. She told me a simple lunch would have been fine."

"So what you're telling me is I broke a toe for nothing?" Ragnar exclaimed, gesturing at his bandaged foot.

"I was dog piled." Kichirou muttered sadly. Daria patted him on the back apologetically.

"Well it wasn't my idea. Blame Daria." Antoine said. Daria pouted and turned away from him.

The infirmary was filled with laughter.

* * *

 ** _A/N:_** ** _This chapter was long overdue. I was actually done a while ago but I decided to rewrite it because I didn't like it that much. SO sorry for the delay._**

 ** _Also, I don't own the song used in this chapter! This is the I See Fire (Kygo Remix) by Kygo and Ed Sheeran! I suggest you go listen to it. It's not only amazing but the song I used because it fit well._**

 ** _YAY! More OCs!_**

 ** _Rae Wells- keymasterdan_**

 ** _Ayazi Asakina- xToxic-Kitty_**

 ** _Sandra Esra- klbubblepop786_**

 ** _Chris Valen- Trevor607_**

 ** _From here, we have our first serious arc coming up! A few villains would be greatly appreciated but I already have some in mind. There won't be any new OCs shown (apart from villains) during these chapters so if you're OC has not appeared, they will most likely appear after this arc._**

 ** _Reviews are appreciated! Any flames will be used to bake cookies. Yum... cookies..._**

 ** _Nene: Author bitch! Snap out of it!_**

 ** _Danni: HEY! Don't call me that!_**

 ** _SHAMELESS ADVERTISING CORNER!:_** ** _If you like Katekyo Hitman Reborn, please read my fanfic about it: Rantings of a Teenage Mafioso! If you don't know the show, go watch/read it! . Also, read my friend Animeangie's first story, Fruity Mew Mew: Mews Unite! Arigato!_**

 ** _Sayonara, desu~!_**


	12. First Mission as Team Daria!

**_A/N:_** ** _Soooooooooooooooooooooooo..._**

 ** _How have you all been? Hope you had a wonderful day. For today, we have the Rakurai herself, AKENO!_**

 ** _Akeno: Good day._**

 ** _Danni: HIT 'EM WITH A DISCLAIMER GIRL!_**

 ** _Akeno: Daria isn't here? *Cue Danni head shaking* I'd rather not. *Walks away*_**

 ** _Danni: NOOOOOOOO! Akeno! Don't leave me disclaimer-less!_**

 ** _Daria: I can do it._**

 ** _*Akeno runs back in to say it in unison with Daria. Cue adorable posing*_**

 ** _Kuroshima Sisters: Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima! Dumb author/Author-chan only owns the storyline and her own characters. Thank you to our OC creators!_**

 ** _Danni: You are unbelievable..._**

 ** _Chapter 12:_** ** _First Mission as Team Daria!_**

Akeno woke up from bed, yawning and stretching out like a cat. She hummed as her back clicked and hopped off the bed. She strode into the shower and scrubbed herself clean, relaxing under the warm water for ten minutes afterwards. She slipped into her floral white kimono top and her black hakama-styled skirt. Just as she was about to make some breakfast of toast and orange juice, she heard a voice behind her.

"Akeno-nee? Why are you up so early?" Daria said. Akeno turned to see her little sister rubbing her eyes tiredly. "It's like four in the morning."

"I left a lot of paperwork unchecked so I have to do it before Marcus gets to the office. He's always there at six sharp so I have to hurry." She said, sitting down and munching on toast. With her other hand, she was checking the bills for their dorm apartment.

"Oh!" Daria helped pull Akeno's hair into a high ponytail before sitting and drinking a glass of juice. "Akeno-nee, did you hear the news? Xavier is joining my team!"

"That's..." The woman grit her teeth. "Nice."

"We're going on a mission today. Wish us luck."

"You don't need luck. You have talent and cuteness to get you through." Akeno said, pulling Daria's cheeks. The younger girl whined before smacking her sister's hands away. Akeno put on her straw sandals and placed her sword on her back. "I'll be off now."

Daria waved as Akeno disappeared down the stairs. Daria sighed and jumped back into her bed, instantly going back to sleep.

* * *

"Morning guys." Xavier said as he walked into the guild, rubbing tiredly at his eyes. Hearing no answer, he opened his eyes and blinked in surprise. A guild fight had broke out. _'I never thought they actually had these here...'_ He thought, watching as Nene was sent flying into table by another girl's punch.

Nene got up and instantly tackled the girl, sending both of them rolling into the wall. Next to that, Kichirou lay unconscious, a broken bottle beside his bleeding head. Daria was freaking out and trying to remove all the shards still in his forehead. He gazed over the destruction and sighed.

People slowly dropped out of the battle or were knocked out, leaving only a few people. Suddenly a magic circle appeared on the blonde woman's hand.

"Sand Dragon's Ir-" She was interrupted as she suddenly leapt backwards, a bullet whizzing past her face and clipping a few red highlights from her bangs. "Holy shit! Marcus!"

Her ruby eye glared up at the balcony above her. Marcus lowered his sniper rifle, jumping off the railing and landing right in front of the dragon slayer. "You would have fucking killed me if I didn't have such good instinct!"

"That's the whole point. Did you think at all about the damage you have caused and the amount you would have caused if you used magic? I am not going to deal with your paperwork if so. If I see a single extra piece of damage, you are signing all my papers for a week." He said, glaring with his startling blue eyes.

"Goddamn. Why are your panties in a twist?"

"I will not miss next time..." He warned, grabbing a pistol from a holster on his thigh and clicking off the safety. Nene clicked her tongue and sat down at the bar, looking very much like a grumpy child. Marcus strode out the door, a mission in hand and a lot of weapons strapped to his body.

Xavier looked in wonder at the weaponry he had on him. Rifles, shotguns, pistols, knives and... were those twin swords? Damn...

A few seconds after Marcus disappeared out the door, a childish voice rang out. "Can we come out now?"

Everyone turned to see Maiko, Luke and Lavanda's heads pop out from a table that was tipped on its side. There was a collective sweat drop as the three children stepped out of the hiding spot. Lavanda scurried off to read while Maiko dragged Luke to plan an evil scheme.

Xavier began to chuckle. This guild was weird but fun. He actually liked it here.

* * *

"What happened in here?" A strong voice echoed from the doorway.

Forget that earlier statement. He fears for his life here.

The tone of voice was terrifying and Xavier felt like his fear was choking him. He looked up and for a second he couldn't recognize the person standing there.

Her graying pink hair was in a fishtail braid and her usual business attire was swapped for a more casual blue dress. But her eyes were the things that messed with him the most. The swirl of blues was darkened into an angry stormy color. She took a step forward and the pressure increased. He looked around and noted there were only a few others who had a similar reaction. The rest seemed almost, used to it?

A gentle hand caressed his back in an attempt to soothe his rapidly beating heart. He relaxed as a herb was shoved near his nose, it's sweet aroma making his body stop it's trembling.

"I leave for a few minutes to talk to Maiko's teacher and I get this?! YOU BROKE THE MIRROR!" Sayri held the shards of glass and growled. "Where are Marcus and Akeno?"

"Marcus went on a mission and Akeno-nee fell asleep on the desk because of paperwork." Daria exclaimed, retracting the herbs from Xavier's face and moving her hand off his back.

"At the same time?" Sayri's blue eyes were blazing.

"No. Akeno left early in the morning and passed out a lot earlier. Marcus left just now." The green eyed girl said. That seemed to placate Sayri somewhat.

"I want this all cleaned and spotless by the time I get back from my meeting." Sayri said. Only then did everyone notice the bags she had with her.

"Meeting?" Maiko asked, hopping up to her aunt.

"I am going to the annual Master Meeting. I would have gone by the train service but I heard there was a commotion going on with the trains so I think it will be faster if I run." She said. Sayri crouched down to her niece's height and kissed the pink haired girl on the cheek. Maiko rubbed furiously at the cheek. "Bye baby girl. If I hear about any pranks..."

"You'll forbid me from entering the guild for a week. You tell me this every time you leave for these things." Maiko grumbled, looking away and puffing out her cheeks. Sayri smirked and stood back at full height. She sent a dark look of warning to the rest of the members before turning to the door.

"Be good children. I don't want to have a migraine when I come back."

And she turning into a glowing figure before suddenly vanishing.

* * *

"What the hell was that?!" Xavier shrieked, terrified.

"Sayri uses light magic and she has the ability to temporarily turn into light and move at that speed. It's like teleporting to us but for her, she is actually moving and refracting off surfaces to move faster. Or something like that. I'm not sure." Daria said thoughtfully.

Xavier sighed.

* * *

"Let's do this mission!" Daria said, pointing at a random mission poster from the board.

"I am not dressing up like a girl again, Daria." Xavier gave her a straight look forcing her to back away from that particular mission.

"How about this?" Xavier leaned over Kichirou's shoulder to see the poster.

"What is it? What does it say?" Daria couldn't see past Xavier's tall frame. She whined pathetically.

"We have to stop some mercenaries from Screaming Banshee... Why is that so familiar?" Xavier asked, rubbing at his chin thoughtfully.

"Well, I guess we'll know when we get there." Daria said, grabbing the paper from Kichirou. "Maia! We're taking this mission now!"

* * *

Enthusiastic knocking echoed through the house, followed shortly by yelling.

"Daria! There's a bell right there!" Xavier yelled.

"Oh! Well push!" She pushed the button once. Twice. Thrice.

"Daria, stop." Kichirou grabbed her hand back. She pouted cutely, looking a lot like a child. Her green eyes glittered with tears.

"But Kichi-san!" Just as she said that, the door was opened. They immediately turned to the man with bright smiles. "Hello, sir!"

His brown eyes blinked in confusion. He stepped out and closed the door behind him, turning to face the teenagers and adjusting his hold on the baby in his arms. "Umm... hello?"

"Phoenix Wing was assigned a mission and we had to meet at this address." To prove his point, Xavier lowered his hoodie to show the electric blue mark on his neck. Daria and Kichirou also exposed their marks. Suddenly, his face flooded with understanding.

"Oh! That was Ren's mission but she just left to buy some food for the baby. I know the details though so it should be fine. Come in." He opened the door and led them into a living room filled with fine art.

* * *

"Daria?" Kichirou called to the girl who was marching ahead. She turned to face him as he grabbed her wrist and dragged her the opposite direction. "It's this way."

Xavier laughed out loud as they walked further up the mountains. They could start to see how this place would be a good hideout. There were thick forests, many caves and tunnels and a good supply of animals and water. Surprisingly, they hadn't encountered any traps or people yet.

"Daria. Just stay behind me." Xavier said. Daria sighed but moved to the back of the group anyways.

"Not cool guys..."

"It's not your fault you can barely find the bathroom. With clear instructions." Kichirou face palmed as he said it. The girl was hopeless with directions.

"But sti-" She was cut off when she felt something wrap around her. She screamed as she was suddenly dragged away. Kichirou turned first and lunged forwards, reaching out for his best friend but he was just a second too late. The shadow hand lifted Daria into the air and squeezed. She screamed and coughed, feeling herself being crushed.

"Daria! Bring her back down!" Kichirou shouted, gaining no response. Xavier kicked into action. A large magic circle appeared beneath the two boys.

"Brace yourself! If they won't bring her down, we'll have to go up!" As he said the final word in his sentence, a mini tornado erupted from under their feat, blasting them up and towards the shadow hand.

"Takeover: Kitsune Soul!" A ball of fire erupted from Kichirou's body, covering him before it exploded outwards, showing his transformed form. Kichirou's hair turned a fiery orange as his eyes faded from green to a warm brown. He had on a pair of black knee length shorts. Light orange fur covered his back and his legs, forming spiky sideburns on his face.

"Blaze sword!" Fire licked up Kichirou's arm before turning into a sword. He sliced at the hand holding Daria but was knocked aside by a second hand shadow. Xavier, slowed his flight down before changing direction and flying towards Kichirou.

"I got you Kiro!" Xavier caught the younger teen and floated safely to the ground, dispelling his wind in favor of making sure his friend was alright. Once Kichirou opened his eyes again and stood up slowly, Xavier turned to face Daria. The shadow hand lessened it's force and lowered her to the ground again albeit far from the two boys, keeping an iron grip on her.

Slowly, two men walked out from the bushes. One turned to Xavier and Kichirou and the redhead gasped. His irises were blood red and his black hair was slicked back, similar to Antoine's style but less wild.

The second one had dark, empty irises. His green hair was wild and messy, as if he had just woken up, and his clothes were wrinkled. He turned back to face the shadow hand and walked up to Daria. He grabbed her chin and moved her head, observing her face. His eyeballs turned entirely green, data flowing through them in blue figures as he stared into her eyes.

"Daria Kuroshima, adoptive sister of Rakurai, Akeno Kuroshima. 16 years old and a member of Phoenix Wing since 14. Quite pretty but not very bright. Best friends with Kichirou Tendo, also 16, and good friends with Xavier Reed, 18 years old. Uses plant magic which have strange white roses that can even heal injuries." He said in an almost robotic tone, releasing her face and jotting it down on a notepad, his eyes back to the endless black. The click of a camera was heard as he put the item (that randomly appeared) back into a satchel.

"Who are you?" Xavier said, briefly glancing at the fuming, but silent, Kichirou.

The dark haired man smiled at him. "I am Steele. This is Kuro." Steele gazed meaningfully at his companion who's eyes went green again.

"Kichirou Tendo, 16 year old Take Over mage of Phoenix Wing. Joined a few weeks after Daria Kuroshima. Introvert but quite powerful. Take caution. Can control lightning and fire if transformed. Blossoming trust with Xavier Reed. Intelligent and good looking but not confident." Kuro's freaky eyes turned to Xavier, data flowing incredibly slow. "Xavier Reed, 18 years old. Newest member of Phoenix Wing and a wind mage with... **ERROR**."

The boy's green eyes flickered to normal for a second before going green.

"No further information."

Steele's gaze turned intrigued and he looked at Xavier, obviously interested at the lack of information. Kichirou completely ignored the statements and stalked over to the two. As he passed, Xavier briefly noticed the change in height and blinked in surprise. Kichirou was quite a bit taller than him now.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Steele held up his hand and crushed it into a tight fist. Immediately, Daria gave a scream as the shadow hand tightened up. Kichirou froze and stepped back, prompting Steele to relax his grip.

"Let her go." Kichirou growled in a low voice. Xavier scanned their surrounding silently, trying to form a plan.

"I'm afraid we can't. Our master is very interested in Miss Daria." Steele said, shrugging nonchalantly. Kuro took a photograph of Kichirou's transformed state before his eyes suddenly went completely blue. The same as when they were green and looked sort of like camera lenses but instead, they were blue.

"Master is calling for us to return." He said, before his eyes looked natural once more.

"Well, I have to go now. But, since I find you two interesting..." Steele's red eyes locked onto Xavier. "I'll give you a hint." He began, turning his back to them.

"As the frosted wind blows, a periwinkle traps the rose. The rose's thorns are plucked and used by another. The flame rages as the shadow and snow circle, watching in earnest. Will the storm retake its catalyst? Will the familiar return its witch? Or maybe, will the spirit prevail?" And with that, Steele and Kuro disappeared into the shadows.

With Daria.

* * *

 ** _A/N:_** ** _YEAH! Finally got this chapter up! Sorry for the wait guys, I have no excuse... TT ^ TT_**

 ** _Anyways, here we start the first serious arc of the story. Daria was taken away, Kichirou is angry and all Xavier has to help save their friend is a strange poetic riddle from Steele._**

 ** _Also, I just love Kuro! He has normal eyes. The whites of his eyes are white while he has black irises. However, when I write they went completely green, I meant_** **completely** ** _green. A good reference is the All-Seeing Eyes from Kekkai Sensen. They look like those but in the color I described with!_**

 ** _BTW, I am sorry if I get confused later since we have a character named Kuro and Kichirou is nicknamed Kiro. Plus, U and I are next to each other so I apologize in advance._**

 ** _To the people who comment on my stories, I love you all! You guys are amazing and seeing all these reviews and favorites makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. As well as inspired! So thank you!_**

 ** _SHAMELESS ADVERTISING CORNER!:_** ** _If you like Katekyo Hitman Reborn, please read my fanfics about it: Rantings of a Teenage Mafioso and Even Though My Name Is Tsunayoshi, I'm Still A Girl! If you don't know the show, go watch/read it! . Also, read my friend Animeangie's first story, Fruity Mew Mew: Mews Unite! Arigato!_**

 ** _Sayonara, de gozaru!_**

 ** _P.S Damn, that was a long Authors Note..._**


	13. Rescue!

**_A/N:_** ** _HEY! We have the adorable, mischievous trickster of the guild, Maiko Vols!_**

 ** _Maiko: Hi!_**

 ** _Danni: Time for the disclaimer, girl._**

 ** _Maiko: *rolls eyes* Danni owns nothing because she is stupid. She doesn't even own half the characters..._**

 ** _Danni: Sayri!_**

 ** _Maiko: Sorry! *Runs off, scared*_**

 ** _Danni: She is so much more annoying than she looks. Well, enjoy the chapter, de gozaru!_**

* * *

 **Previously on Phoenix Wing:**

 _"As the frosted wind blows, a periwinkle traps the rose. The rose's thorns are plucked and used by another. The flame rages as the shadow and snow circle, watching in earnest. Will the storm retake its catalyst? Will the familiar return its witch? Or maybe, will the spirit prevail?" And with that, Steele and Kuro disappeared into the shadows._

 _With Daria._

* * *

 ** _Chapter 13:_** ** _Rescue!_**

Xavier looked at Kichirou. The brunette had transformed back and sat on the grass, punching a large boulder as if trying to break it. Xavier looked at the floor before suddenly jumping from his place on a tree branch.

"Kiro! I think I can find a way to help us." He brought a dull red mirror out of his bag and shook it. "If we can power this with enough magic power, it should work like any communication magic!"

Kichirou looked up from his angry punching and stared at the mirror. His face was blank as usual but Xavier flinched at the fury in his eyes. The boy walked over to Xavier and took the mirror, sitting with it. He effortlessly tossed it around. His hair turned orange and his eyes went brown. He transformed into his Kitsune form.

Fire exploded from Kichirou's hands, engulfing the mirror in a raging red flame. The mirror began to vibrate and glow as he heated it with more and more fire. Xavier stood there amazed as the mirror was powered incredibly quickly. Kichirou released his transformation.

"Activating Communication. Who do you wish to communicate with?" A robotic voice echoed from the mirror. For a second, Xavier seemed to show nostalgic sadness before suddenly taking the glowing device from Kichirou's hands. Wincing at the heat, he held it up.

"Can you contact Phoenix Wing?" A hum echoed from the mirror after Xavier asked this. There was a brief click before he heard a familiar voice.

"Who is it?" Marcus said.

"Xavier and Kichirou." As Xavier said this, their images appeared on the mirror in Sayri's office and Marcus appeared on their mirror.

"What magic is this and why do you want me?"

"Magic mirror. Well, Colo-"

"Daria's gone." Kichirou cut him off.

"What?" Marcus sounded confused, and worried?

"Some shadow guy grabbed her. I tried to save her but he just started hurting her when I got close. They took her somewhere..." Kichirou began. His voice shook as he clenched his hands. "But I don't know where."

"Well godfuckingdamnit. Akeno looks like she's going to explode."

"Akeno?" Xavier asked. "Aren't you on a mission?"

"Well I finished it super fast and came back to see her asleep. I was in the middle of shouting at her when you called. Now she looks like she is about to murder me." He said. "Oh look, there's the sword..."

"Tell me your location." Akeno growled out. A murderous aura leaked out of the device.

"I'll send a map through the mirror." As Xavier said this, a map appeared and phased through the mirror and onto the floor. "It should be there."

"I'm on my way. Marcus, find another strong fighter. We're going to raid this place."

"Actually, Sayri said I should stay here while she's gone. I can't leave."

"Well fucking get Antoine to do your job!"

And Akeno sliced the office mirror in her anger, breaking the connection. Xavier blinked before he pocketed his ruby mirror. Kichirou still didn't seem okay. So instead of making everything awkward and forced, Xavier left the brunette to simmer in his fury and instead, Xavier took a notepad from his backpack and started trying to decipher that riddle.

* * *

"Hey there." Antoine was suddenly beside Xavier, scaring the redhead enough to make him fall out of the tree. Xavier winced and rubbed the bump on his head, making sure his glasses hadn't cracked.

"Antoine?" Xavier asked as the blonde man lifted him up to his feet.

"The one and only. So, I hear that Daria was captured?" Kichirou nodded from his place next to the boulder which now had a huge crack in it from his punches. "That explains... that."

Blinking, Xavier followed Antoine's extended finger to see a dark aura emanating from the path. He shrieked as Akeno stood in front of him, a pissed off look on her face and promises of pain in her purple eyes.

"What the fuck happened?" Akeno said. Xavier briefly explained everything that happened recently and bringing out his blue notepad.

"See this riddle? From what I could guess, the frosted wind is snow so that would be at the top of the mountain where there is lots of snow. The rose is probably Daria since her magic uses white roses but everything else seems like nonsense." Xavier said.

"Then, the answer is simple. We go to the top to rescue her." Akeno said, starting to calm down a bit. Still angry, but she wasn't swearing or trying to kill anyone now.

"Isn't it smarter to find out the rest of it?" Xavier asked.

"Listen..." Antoine looked the redhead in the eye and Xavier mentally freaked out at the intensity of Antoine's ruby gaze. "Phoenix Wing stops at nothing to help out its family and friends. We don't know what they want so, isn't it smarter to go and see now? What if they wanted to kill her? Waiting would only make that worse. Also I have no idea how to do this."

Even though Antoine sheepishly admitted his confusion, he still looked charming and suave with his smile. Xavier sighed and said he might still magically **(get it?)** become really handsome and have a deeper voice like Antoine one day.

"I agree." Kichirou stated, much calmer. He no longer looked angry at all and was back to his quiet blank self. "But wait..."

"Yes?" Akeno said as she turned to face the brunette. She had already started walking with her sword before he spoke.

"Didn't you say you wanted three people? You and Akeno only makes two." Kichirou said, holding up three fingers to prove a point.

Antoine smirked. "Well yeah. That's why we have him."

"Yo!" Xavier turned to spot a familiar face. Bright golden eyes, a spiky, dirty blond hair and a bright toothy grin. The man raised a hand in greeting.

"Chris!" Xavier turned to smile at him. The tall man winked playfully before looking back at Antoine with a smaller smile.

"So let's go storm the place!" Chris shouted. Strange looks were directed to the blond, making him hush with a fake pout.

"Come on guys. We need more energy!" Antoine said, rolling his eyes.

"I know. As Nene would say, "Let's fucking raid this bitch!"" At the pretty good impression of Nene's rough foul language that Chris did, everyone cheered. "That's more like it."

The sitting duo of Kichirou and Chris sat up. The rest started walking in the direction of the snowy mountain peaks. A suit jacket magically appeared on Antoine's shoulders as he prepared for the cold. Taking an extra hoodie out of his backpack, he tossed it to Akeno who thanked him with a polite smile.

"What about me?" Kichirou asked, offended at being skipped over. He was the only one without some kind of outerwear at the moment. He left his sweater at his dorm room.

"Here." Antoine summoned a jacket and handed it to Kichirou. Xavier tried to hold in his laughter when he saw how tiny Kichirou looked in Antoine's jacket. Kichirou growled lightly when he saw Xavier snicker and he hit the redhead's shoulder.

To the side, Antoine whispered to Chris, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. "Why'd you copy Nene? Is there something I'm missing?"

Chris rolled his eyes and scoffed. "Really? That girl is so vulgar and moody. I think she hates me, in fact." He said. Antoine moved back but the French man was sure he had caught a slight change in color on Chris's cheeks.

"Interesting..."

* * *

"Up the mountain we go~" Chris sang, marching forwards confidently in his combat boots. "Have to go fast and not too slow~"

"I'll make you a red puddle in the snow~" Akeno sang back, pointing her sheathed sword at Chris. He held his hands up in surrender and stopped singing.

"Don't be a buzzkill Akeno~" Antoine sang, ruffling her purple hair. Akeno glared at him, causing the man to remove his hand and smile. "Come on just join in the show~"

"Antoine... Don't think I'll allow this to slide!" She shouted angrilly.

"That didn't rhyme at all~" Antoine teased, still singing to annoy her. On the sideline, Xavier felt envious tears streak down his face. Antoine was even an amazing singer! How perfect is this man?

Kichirou glanced at his comically jealous friend. "Don't be jealous, just sing along~" Kichirou sang softly, causing the boy to glare icily behind his frosted glasses.

"I can't see cause of all this snow~" Xavier sang, wiping his glasses with his sleeve to clear his view. Kichirou cheered as Xavier joined in the song circle.

"I started this, this is my song~" Chris shouted, dancing happily. Akeno began to unsheathe the blade and chased Chris around. "No! Don't fight me this is just for fun~"

"The rhymes just keep on getting worse~" Xavier sighed. Kichirou laughed quietly. Xavier rolled his eyes.

"All together from the top!" Chris said. All together (excluding the fuming Akeno) they began to sing.

"Up the mountain we go~" They sang, walking through the snow cheerfully. "Have to go fast and not too slow~"

* * *

Daria groaned as her eyes snapped open. She rubbed her aching head and observed her surroundings, sitting up slowly. She was lying down on a boulder, a trench coat used to cushion her head. She turned her head to the left side just to meet completely green eyes. Suddenly, the eyes turned back to normal eye whites with black irises.

"Oh you're awake." A soft but silky voice said. She gazed at the boy in front of her. He seemed around her age, if not slightly younger. His short green hair was a mess, like he was either having a bad hair day or he just woke up. His bangs hung close to his round eyes, making him look, sort of adorable. His eyes were black and large but, they looked practically lifeless as he looked up at her. Daria wondered what he would look like he had a bright light in his eyes. He had knee length jean shorts and his hands were tucked into their pockets. His black vest made his bare arms looked ever paler than they were in comparison. "Do you remember me?"

"You look familiar... But no." Daria shook her head.

"Do you know your name?" He asked.

"Yes. Daria... Kuroshima." She said. The boy's blank face just made a barely noticeable frown. He sighed and looked somewhere to Daria's right.

"She lost the recent memory. You win the bet." He said. A deep chuckle sounded as a man made his way into her view. He had black slicked back hair that was similar to Antoine's but neater and not blond. His red eyes seemed to pierce through her soul as he quickly scanned her. He had no shirt on but his chest was covered by bandages. He also had bandages on his upper arms. His black trousers were fitted and suited his dark vibe very well.

His walked over on dark combat boots and kneeled, grabbing her hand in his own and gently kissing it. Daria blushed in embarrassment.

"Miss Kuroshima. Are you alright?" He said in a deep voice.

"I'm fine, just weirdly tired. Why wouldn't I be?" She said warily, preparing herself for an attack.

"You don't know? We rescued you from two rogue mages who kidnapped you." The dark haired man said, a wicked smile on his handsome features.

"Oh thank you! May I ask your names?" She asked, tilting her head cutely. The smaller male continued staring at her blankly as if not affect but the older man seemed surprised by the cute gesture. He smiled almost coyly.

"I am Steele and my... friend here, is Kuro. Nice to meet you, miss." Steele said, standing up again.

"Please just call me Daria." Daria said, waving her arms frantically.

"Daria, I have a question. Do you recall the name Xavier Reed?"

"No. I've never heard that name before." Daria said as she shook her head. "Is he important?"

"He was one of the kidnappers." Daria's eyebrows furrowed as she thought back.

"Oh."

* * *

 _ **A/N:**_ _ **I got the chapter done! YAY!**_

 _ **Dun, dun, DUUUUN! Daria forgot who Xavier is? She is willingly going with her attackers? OH NO!**_

 ** _Thank you those who read this story and comment and favorite and all that jazz. You don't know how much it means to see a nice comment or a new follow. Also, I feel like writing something new but I have no ideas. Any ideas from you guys? If so, please PM me some ideas!_**

 ** _Sayonara, de gozaru!_**


	14. Know Your Enemy

**_A/N:_** ** _Today, we bring in, the always lovely, Antoine Valentine!_**

 ** _Antoine: Hello there._**

 ** _Danni: We need a disclaimer, Antoine. You know what to do!_**

 ** _Antoine: Danni doesn't own Fairy Tail or any of its characters. They belong to Hiro Mashima. She only owns her own OCs and this fanfiction._**

 ** _Danni: Finally! A proper disclaimer!_**

 ** _*Crashing noises as his fangirls appear*_**

 ** _Fangirls: Antoine! We love you!_**

 ** _Antoine: *Nervous* I... have to go._**

 ** _*Runs off, being chased by rabid girls.*_**

 ** _Danni: I pity that man..._**

 ** _..._**

 **Previously on Phoenix Wing:**

 _"I know. As Nene would say, "Let's fucking raid this bitch!"" At the pretty good impression of Nene's rough foul language that Chris did, everyone cheered. "That's more like it."_

 _"I am Steele and my... friend here, is Kuro. Nice to meet you, miss." Steele said, standing up again._

 _"Please just call me Daria." Daria said, waving her arms frantically._

 _"Daria, I have a question. Do you recall the name Xavier Reed?"_

 _"No. I've never heard that name before." Daria said as she shook her head. "Is he important?"_

 ** _..._**

 ** _Chapter 14:_** ** _Know your enemy..._**

Steele leaned over and snatched his trench coat which Daria was previously using as a pillow. He shrugged it over his shoulders and stepped away from the girl. Kuro suddenly perked up, eyes turning completely blue.

"Yin and Yang are waiting for us. They're already at the rendezvous point." Kuro said to Steele, eyes going back to normal. Steel growled before looking at Daria.

"Earlier, I used Shadow Path to take us all to a safer place. I don't have enough magic power to carry us all again right now." He said. Daria's face fell, before she perked up.

"Well I can walk there. It's fine." She said, moving to jump off the large boulder.

"I'm afraid you'll move to slow at your speed, even if you run. The twins and the boss are not very... patient." Steele sighed, placing his hands on his hips. "Kuro."

The boy instantly moved, grabbing Daria and placing her on his back before she even knew what was going on. "Eh?" She squeaked.

"He'll take you there. I have advice." Steele suddenly smirked at her as Kuro crouched down. She saw the normally emotionless boy briefly give the slightest smile and his eyes suddenly seemed to glow with amusement. "Hold on tight."

Daria squealed as he leapt into the air without warning. She wrapped her arms around his neck and closed her eyes, wind rushing into her face and hair as the boy leapt through the trees.

"Kuro! Slow down! Eeeek!" She ducked under a branch as Kuro landed in a particularly large tree. He jumped off again, flying high above the forest below him. _'What is he made off?'_ Daria thought as they were slowly falling back down.

"Hmm... No suitable landing spots. Too much foliage to drop." His eyes turned green, scanning the area like a robot would. "Ah! Are you cold?"

Daria blinked in confusion at his question. "What? No."

"Well... You will be." Kuro stated, looking down. Daria glanced down briefly before looking back up at him, eyes wide and mouth gaping.

"You wouldn't." Kuro smiled at her again and her fears were proven as his hold on her relaxed. "Kuro, no!"

He let go and they both began to fall.

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

...

"They were here." Akeno said as she glanced around. "A while ago if I'm correct."

"How do you know?" Xavier asked the woman, lifting leaves and entering the place where Akeno was standing.

"Daria wears this perfume I got for her last birthday. I recognize the smell over here." She pointed at the large rock. "The smell is starting to fade so it must have been some time back."

"Yeah, it's also over here" Kichirou said, kneeling at a spot on the ground. Xavier made an 'o' shape with his mouth before sighing and running a hand through his short red hair.

Antoine and Chris entered the area shortly after that, having walked the slowest due to a whispered conversation. Antoine raised a brow at the older sister and best friend of Daria as they sniffed along the ground, searching for her scent.

"That's odd." Akeno stated suddenly, all eyes were on her. She pointed to the left. "It starts going there before suddenly vanishing."

"It must have been Steele's magic!" Xavier exclaimed. The others asked for an explanation. "Well, Steele was able to make them disappear in the shadows without a trace. I'm not sure how."

"So Steele was one of the kidnappers?" Akeno asked calmly. So calmly and quietly that it scared Xavier to look into her angry eyes.

"He was the one who captured her with his shadow hand." Kichirou stated bluntly, anger creeping into his voice as well.

"Calm down, both of you." Antoine said. "We'll rescue her, don't worry."

Akeno's eyes quickly went back to normal and Kichirou's fists stopped trembling as he relaxed his hands. Xavier sighed and gave Antoine a thumbs up. The man grinned and gave him a thumbs up back, a goofy grin on his face.

"How about we split up?" After sounds of agreement were given to Chris's statement, he grinned. "Me and Kichirou will go left and circle round to the top of the mountain, Xavier and Antoine will circle right and our strongest will storm through the middle!"

Antoine glared at Chris, red eyes murderous. He cleared his throat, earning Chris's attention. The gold eyed man stepped back when he saw the look. "Strongest?" Antoine asked, voice low.

Akeno gave a lopsided smile. "It's true. Antoine is probably even stronger than Erza. Maybe even Laxus."

Suddenly, Antoine blushed and looked to the side sheepishly. "I wouldn't say that. I was just kidding Chris! I don't mind!"

"But it's true. You beat him a lot when you were younger." Akeno stated. Xavier gaped and stared at the platinum blond, hardly believing it. _'Stronger than Laxus?! But Laxus is crazy!'_

"But he's really strong now. It's been so long since I've been in action! I'm just a humble bartender and chef alongside Maia." Antoine insisted. Akeno rolled her eyes and Chris rubbed his neck embarrassed.

"Okay, so Akeno, our second strongest, will storm through the middle." Chris said.

"But aren't you really strong too, Chris?" Akeno said. Chris looked at her as if she said the stupidest thing ever.

"Well yeah but I admit that you could probably beat me up if you tried." Chris exclaimed. "So can we stop arguing and start this mission already?"

"Okay! Good luck guys!" And with those words, they split up and headed off.

...

Daria swam up to the surface of the lake, gulping deep breaths of air as she surfaced. She wiped her face of water, kicking her legs to stay afloat. She looked over the water to see Kuro standing by a bush. She swam over to the sand, sitting down once she was in the shallower part of the water.

"Kuro, that wasn't cool. You just dropped me into the lake!" She whined, throwing her head back in exasperation.

"It wasn't safe anywhere else for you to land. I didn't want you getting caught in the trees or hurt." He gestured at his arm as he struggled. Daria looked to see it tangled in a thorny bush, the thorns scratching and ripping jagged lines into his flesh. She gasped.

"Oh my gosh! Let me help untangle you!" Daria rushed over to his side but the boy just shrugged her off.

"No need." And with that, he ripped his arm right off at the elbow. Daria felt sick, noticing her horrified look and teary eyes, he panicked. "Oh! You don't know. Calm down! Calm down!"

With his still attached arm he pat her head, trying to soothe her. Stopping his petting, he slipped his severed arm out of the bushes and brought it up for her to see.

"See? It's not real. Metal." He knocked on the arm. There was a hollow sound, like knocking on a metal pipe. "So please, calm down."

Daria took a few deep breaths before taking the arm into her hands and knocking on it. "Oh... Wow, that's so cool." Her voice was shaky but at least she wasn't crying.

"Yeah. I'm a... cy...borg? I can't remember the word. I'm pretty much all metal." He said to Daria's amazement. "That's why I flew into the bush rather than into the water. I didn't want to shutdown and have you carry a lump of metal around."

Daria looked at him. He was talking a lot now. She smiled at him, causing him to stop and stare. He shook his head and placed his severed metal arm into his bag. To stop the bleeding caused by severing part of the robotic nerve system, He wrapped a bandage around it. Soon, he grabbed her hand and started leading her to the nearby rendezvous point.

...

"Oh my. What happened to you two?" Steele said once they arrived. Daria blushed and looked aside while Kuro just stared blankly at him. The two girls next to Steele gave different reactions.

One of them started to giggle mischievously. Her golden eyes glinting in the light as she laughed. She had on a tight, black and sleeveless leather jumpsuit with red boots and short claret fingerless gloves. Her skin was fairly tanned and had a few scars, showing she probably spent a lot of time in the sun and fighting.

The other simply frowned at them. Her purple eyes were condescending, making Daria feel smaller. Her white kimono had a floral indigo pattern as she stepped back in her wooden sandals, looking them up and down. Unlike the first girl, her skin was pale and flawless, like a doll.

They both had half shaved haircuts, probably linking a sort of relation. The first girl had the right side of her head shaved, the left side being a sunset orange spiky bob that reached her shoulder. The other one had the left side shaved, the right side having dark blue waves of hip length hair.

"She's wearing his shirt! Did Kuro actually get his freak on?" The first one said, walking over. Daria was about to ask what she meant when the second girl raised a hand and grabbed the first girl.

"Yang, please. We both know Kuro-san isn't interested in anyone and also, that girl is only 16." She said, glaring at the first girl. She threw Yang to the side before bowing politely.

"Hello. I am **Yin** and that is **Yang**. My... twin sister." She said the last words like she despised the fact. She turned to look at Yang in disgust. "She is very... odd. She is also fairly dirty minded so please do ignore her."

"I see! I'm Daria. Nice to meet you." Daria said, bowing back out of respect. Yin nodded her head in approval before looking back to the robot boy beside Daria.

"Kuro-san? What did you do to your arm, sweetie? And why is she wearing your shirt?" She asked.

"Well, I got stuck in a bush so I decided it best to rip it off rather than damage it further. Also, she got wet because she landed in a lake. Her shirt was see through so I gave her mine." He reported, posture straightening the moment her eyes were on him.

"She landed in a lake? Were you carrying her?" She asked as her eyebrow rose.

"Yes. There was no proper landing zone." Kuro said. Yin nodded slowly before backing off.

Suddenly Yang was in Daria's face. Daria shrieked as Yang licked her lips, exposing her sharp fangs. "You're so cuuuuuute. I could just eat you alive."

Steele sighed and held Yang back, causing the girl to protest and whine. "See what we mean by, odd? Be careful, she has actually bit someone before."

Daria squeaked as Yang rolled her eyes and lost interest.

"Can we get back to the plan? Contact Boss." Yin said to Kuro, causing the boy's eyes to go blue.

After a minute, he opened his mouth. "A message from Boss. Yin and Yang are to patrol the sides of the base, Steele is to stand guard outside the opening and I will be going after the treasure by Yin's side while another subordinate shall go on Yang's."

"Subordinate? Who else is doing this?" Steele asked. Suddenly a shadow moved over Daria. She turned and came face to face with a tall, tanned man. Scars littered his arms, scars from cuts of some sort.

"Cain Syri."

Cain leaned down and grinned at Daria. Her blood went cold. She knew him. She had no idea when they had met or what he had done, but she knew him and she knew...

He was bad news.

...

 ** _A/N:_** ** _YAY! I was able to reach the 2000 word limit quite quickly. I wrote this in a day but had to check over it and change some stuff so it was delayed._**


	15. Come to me

**_A/N:_** ** _I don't own Fairy Tail or the characters that were sent in by others. Blah, blah, blah._**

 ** _ENJOY THE CHAPTER!_**

 ** _Chapter 15:_** ** _Come to me..._**

"Cain?" Daria asked, looking up at the man with wide green eyes. "Have we met before?"

"You can't remember me?" He said before laughing and shrugging her question off. He stalked over to where Steele was.

"Cain, since when did you join this mission?" Steele spat, resentment clear in his voice as he gazed up.

"Recently. Peri decided she needed me as well since there were two likely places for that thing she wanted. Besides, I don't think we need weak people who rely on cheap tactics." He said. Steele glared at him, causing Cain to laugh once more.

Daria eyed him carefully. This man seemed so familiar that she was worried. What was she forgetting?

"Oi, Kuro," Yang drawled, staring into space with a frown. "Shouldn't we be going to our positions?"

Yin stared at Yang in surprise, mouth agape and purple eyes wide. "I cannot believe it. She said something intelligent!"

Yang stomped up to Yin and tugged her hair, earning a whine of pain. Yin turned and swiftly kicked Yang's thigh. Daria watched as the two began arguing and fighting like children... Well, very dangerous children.

"Oi! Don't act as if you're better than me!" Yang shouted while tackling Yin to the floor.

"Well it is not my fault that you are an idiot!" The other twin yelled, rolling so that Yang was on the floor instead. Yang viciously grabbed Yin's hair and pulled again, causing the blue haired girl to yelp in pain.

"Say something else! I'll kill you!" Yin slapped away the other girl's hand and jumped up to her feet. Yang slowly stood up as well. Yin's frown turned into a sinister smile, showing a set of sharp fangs just like her twin.

"Oh ho? Try me, you mutt." Yin provoked. Yang growled deeply and slowly moved towards her. "You are only proving my point... Dear sister."

That was all it took for Yang to pounce and latch onto Yin's arm and bite down. Yin grabbed Yang by the hair and tugged hard enough to make the orange haired girl stop biting. Yin backhanded her, sending Yang flying backwards.

"Learn some class, you filthy girl. It is embarrassing to know that I am the twin of such a fool." Yin stated, glaring at her with a superior glare, turning her nose up at her twin. Yang stood up and glared back but her eyes were filled with uncontrolled animosity, wild like a flame.

"And you learn to shut that ugly mouth of yours. You're giving everyone a migraine with your boring lectures." She shot back before wiping her mouth and spitting.

Daria looked in amazement as the two turned away from each other, folding their arms. They were taking sibling fights to a whole new level.

"Ignore them. They always fight like this... Let's just continue the mission." Steele said walking past the two girls and heading over to Daria. "I should have regained enough magic to take you to boss."

The red eyed man grabbed Daria's wrist and nodded over to Kuro and the twins. Just as both he and the Phoenix Wing mage faded into the shadows, Steele took the chance to sneer at Cain before disappearing.

Kuro walked up to the large man and looked up, having to crane his neck to look at him. He tapped him on the shoulder, earning Cain's attention.

"What do ye want boy?" He said. Kuro blinked blankly.

"You are going to the right side of the mountain. The item should be located in a cave behind the waterfall. Yang will show you the way." He said, pointing to the heavily forested area to their right. Yang perked up at her name and jogged up to them, grabbing Cain by the arm.

"If you don't want Kuro to beat you, you might want to start running. That boy is crazy good at his job." She tugged the man along with barely any effort despite the difference in size. Once they had disappeared into the forest, the android turned to the only other occupant of the area.

"I understand. I just have to follow you?" Yin stated in a quiet voice. Kuro nodded before crouching down, ready to jump. "Just take it easy, sweetie. At the moment, I'm not in the right shape to try keep up with a combat robot."

Kuro just smiled at her before jumping into the air.

* * *

Xavier stared at the back of the man in front of him. They had been walking in silence for a while now and he didn't really find it comfortable here. It was not as cold as the other side of the mountain so the older man had ditched his jacket while Xavier lowered his hoodie.

"So..." Xavier started, hoping to start a conversation. Antoine looked back at him, still walking forward.

"Xavier, right? Sorry, I'm not a name person." Antoine said, looking forwards again.

"Yeah, that's right! I'm Xavier Reed." At his full name, Antoine seemed to perk up before suddenly going back to the normal demeanor. He was surprisingly easy to read if you tried.

"That's interesting. Well, my full name is Antoine V-"

"Valentine, I know. You're not only really popular on Sorcerer's Weekly, which is amazing since Phoenix Wing isn't such a well known guild, but you're also a really powerful mage. I would read all about you guys on the magazine." Xavier said. Antoine blinked at him, eyes wide with surprise.

"Oh!"

"Oh no. That probably sounded stalker-ish. I swear that's not how it was meant to sound. I mean... Uh... I just wanted to say... Um..." Antoine stopped Xavier's panicked rush of words by just placing a hand on the boy's shoulder. Xavier, who was startled, stepped back before relaxing and jogging up to walk next to Antoine.

"Relax. It did sound quite... weird? But I get a lot worse on practically a daily basis. It's no big deal." Antoine said, running a hand through his hair.

Xavier sighed and nodded. "Sorry about that. I just really want to be like you some day."

"I'm flattered." Antoine said. "Anyway, you read the Sorcerer's Weekly a lot?"

"Yeah. I had dreamed of being a mage for a while but back then, I couldn't. So instead, I just liked to read the stories and learn about the cool mages."

"Why couldn't you be a mage?" Antoine asked curiously. "I understand that not everyone gets it fast but, the way you say it makes it sound like you literally couldn't do or even practice it, which makes no sense considering how well you wield your magic."

"Well... I'd rather not talk about it. But I can tell you that it was not recommended to even try magic or I could risk my health. I got better after a while, I guess, so I was allowed to try it out."

Antoine nodded to himself. "Okay then."

"Yeah." Xavier said.

Then they went back to walking in silence. Xavier frowned. _'Damn! I thought we could finally have a nice conversation without me messing up.'_ He thought, face palming with a sigh.

* * *

Chris cracked his knuckles and ran, leaving Kichirou to jog slowly behind him.

"Chris, slow down!" He yelled, trying his best to catch up but not really feeling in the mood for running.

"No way! Don't you want to be the one to rescue Daria?" Kichirou sighed before running a little bit faster.

"I do but it's so cold that I don't want to move." He said as he trudged through the snow. "If I knew it would be this bad, I would have worn winter clothes."

"Too bad, huh. Well, moving will make you warmer! Run with me!" Chris shouted to the sky.

"I think my joints are frozen." Kichirou whined pathetically. Chris pouted and crossed his arms.

"Come on! Get a move ion or I'll leave you behind."

"Fine! Fine!"

* * *

Akeno sighed as she marched through the snow, not restricted much by the cold. Her purple eyes darted around, trying to catch a trace of her adopted sister.

She walked into a clearing and caught the scent of Daria's perfume, immediately searching for clues. She noticed the same problem as before.

"It keeps disappearing! What kind of magic are they using?" She said. Before continuing on her path to the top of the mountain. She began to move from a slow jog to more of a walk.

As she walked, she thought back to all the good times she had with Daria.

* * *

 _"A-Akeno-nee! Lyken was p-peeking at the girls changing for the festival!" A fourteen year old girl shouted, running up to the purple haired woman. Daria exclaimed, dusting off her green ceremonial dress._

 _Akeno blinked at the girl before smiling sweetly and walking off to find the man. Daria sighed at the sound of Lyken's frantic apologies_

* * *

Akeno smiled, thinking back to when Daria was dependent on her. Internally, she gushed at the memories.

"I remember how skittish she was. She's grown so much!" Akeno sighed and held her hands to her chest.

"Wow. You say that like an aging mother." A man's voice said. Akeno snapped out of her trance. She stopped and gazed around her surroundings. She looked back towards the small hill in front of her.

"Who are you?" Akeno asked. Shadows gathered together on the top of the hill, surrounding a figure.

"I'm sorry, let me introduce myself. My name is Steele." The shadows dispersed as the man began to walk down the slope. Crunching sounds were heard as his combat boots stepped into the light snow. "You must be Akeno Kuroshima."

"Where is Daria?" She asked as she grabbed onto her sword, ready to unsheathe it at any moment. "Were you one of the kidnappers?"

"Kidnapper..." He chuckled. "Anyway, if you plan to take Miss Kuroshima back, I'll have to stop you right there."

Akeno unsheathed her sword, Raiden, and pointed it at him. He smirked cockily at her while she glared back at him. "You can try stop me, but you won't be able to."

"Oh really? Why is that?" He asked, feigning curiosity.

"Because you will be the one to fall here." She said and suddenly, a dangerous aura exploded from her. "No one will stop me from rescuing my sister."

Steele sighed and pulled his left hand out of his pocket and stuck it out to the side. Shadows formed around his arm before transforming into a sword. "Unfortunate choice of last words, miss."

* * *

Xavier cursed as he bumped into Antoine's back. He stepped back just as Antoine gave him an apologetic glance.

"Hey, Xavier. There's an emergency and Rae needs to talk to me." The blonde showed him a glowing gold orb. Xavier peered at it and caught sight of an image of a girl with short orange hair. She waved at him before looking back at Antoine. "I'll catch up."

Xavier nodded at the man who thanked him before walking off somewhere. Xavier sighed before walking forwards again, keeping an eye out for any danger.

It was a good thing he did because after a short while, something red flew at him. Ducking under it, Xavier gasped as the sapling beside him set on fire. A scary aura filled his senses.

"You have good reflexes." A deep but, feminine voice drawled. Xavier turned to his right to see a girl crouched on the ground, frowning and drawing in the dirt with a stick. Her wide frown showed of her sharp teeth, making Xavier take a few steps back. The girl looked up at him and blinked lazily with narrow gold eyes. "Too bad you're scared of me."

"W-what? I'm not scared!" Xavier yelled at the girl who simply dropped the stick.

"I can see it in your eyes. You look like an animal that's been cornered. That's weird... I thought I could control my killer intent by now." She said, looking to the side. She turned back to look at him, her orange half bob flicking behind her.

"Who are you?" He said warily, causing the girl to press her lips into a thin line. She seemed to be in thought for a few seconds, confusing the boy even further.

"I guess I can tell you. I'm Yang, a member of Screaming Banshee." She said, showing off her orange guild mark that was on her shoulder. "Nice to meet you. You're not bad, but not my type. Too... weak."

He instantly readied into a battle stance at her words, a shiver going down his back. Yang raised an eyebrow, standing up. "What is i- Oh...? You're that Phoenix Wing member, aren't you?" She began to step forward but a magic circle appeared in his hands causing her to pause and stare at him.

"Where is Daria?" He asked. The girl looked surprised before she grinned.

"I can't tell you. Besides, I don't want to fight a weakling like you so just turn around and go home. I'll let you leave since you're so adorably useless." She said, laughing like a maniac. Xavier growled and charged at her, surprising the girl more. "Well, aren't you stupid! Why challenge someone who is obviously better?"

He reared back his fist and surrounded it with wind, aiming for her face. She effortlessly caught his fist and knocked it away like he was made of paper.

"I was hoping to kill someone stronger but," her grin turned bloodcurdling as she licked her lips and bared her fangs at him. "I guess I'll fight you as an appetizer."

* * *

Kichirou sighed as they stopped to take a break, panting from the running they had been doing. Chris sat beside him on a fallen log, staring at a certain spot.

"What are you looking at?" Kichirou asked, following Chris's gaze and just seeing snow and leafless trees. Chris briefly looked at him before looking forward again.

"Someone is there." Was all Chris said before Kichirou spotted the person run into the open. She was wearing a white kimono that easily blended into the snow. She turned to look at them from afar and suddenly started to go in their direction. Next thing they knew, she was in front of them, observing them quietly.

She turned back and cupped her hands around her mouth. "Thank you, Kuro-san!"

Kichirou saw red at the name. He looked to see the green haired boy jump through the trees and he felt his anger build up instantly. Chris gazed at the boy before looking back at the female who was looking down at them like she was disappointed.

"You two must be Phoenix Wing mages..." She said, sighing. "I expected better. I would have had a lot more fun with Fairy Tail rather than you losers."

Chris narrowed his eyes, clenching his fists and getting ready to punch her in his anger. Too bad, Kichirou beat him to it.

"Take Over: Raiju!" Kichirou's hair turned golden blonde and became even spikier with a pair of wolf ears sticking out. His eyes turned electric blue as he punched her in the face, electricity sparking around his golden fur-covered fist. He jumped back instantly, wolf tail swinging behind him. The girl looked surprised as she grabbed the bruised cheek, the red of the wound contrasting her pale complexion.

"You hit me? That is quite impressive, Kichirou." She stated, stepping towards Kichirou who darted back. At seeing him jump back, she gave a pitying smile. "Are you scared? Or maybe you just got shy? I'm not surprised. Kuro tells me that you get nervous around pretty girls."

At the vain comment, Chris tilted his head. He turned to see Kichirou go red, preparing for another attack. Before his punch could land, she had caught his fist. With another sympathetic smile, she slapped him, sending him flying.

Chris jumped in front of the vulnerable teen, stopping the woman from going further to attack. Golden flames erupted from his body as he got into a boxing stance.

"So you still want to fight me? You obviously didn't see what I just did to him. You know, I would have let you escape and return to your guild since you're so pathetic but, I guess some people don't seem to like the idea of living a long life." She said, shrugging.

Chris glared at her and turned to Kichirou. "I saw how angry you were when that guy passed by. Go get him!" Chris said.

"R-really?" Kichirou said, standing up and walking over to Chris. "I'll help you. She's str-"

"Just go already!" Chris said before charging at the woman, who dodged his attack. Kichirou nodded and took off after Kuro, ready to beat the living snot out of him. "So, mind telling who you are?"

"I don't see why not. I'm Yin of Screaming Banshee. But I don't see the point telling you." She said.

"Why is that?" He asked. Yin grinned, showing off sharp fangs that didn't suit her posh attitude.

"You're already dead."

"Wha-?!"

* * *

"Oi Kuro!" The green haired boy stops when he hears his name. He drops from the tree and lands in the snow, glancing backwards.

His eyes turned green before instantly going back to normal once Kuro recognized the boy. "Kichirou Tendo."

"Where's Daria!?" He yelled, glaring as best he could. Kuro was not affected in the slightest.

"With boss." Kuro stated blankly.

"Give her back. Right. Now." He growled out while Kuro turned fully to face the other boy.

"I can't." Kuro said. "So can I leave now?"

"No! You won't leave here without bringing Daria back." Kichirou shouted angrily. Kuro just blinked at him before sighing and looking down.

"That's too bad." When Kuro looked up his sclera went black and his voice dropped to a much lower range. "I didn't want to fight with only one arm. Hopefully my parts will hold up, even with nerve damage."

"Lightning Claws!" Lightning enveloped his hand and turned into claws. Kichirou rushed towards Kuro at full speed. Just as he was about to reach striking distance, Kuro released a beam of high pressured energy at Kichirou. The boy dodged but got singed at his side, causing him to go scampering backwards. He looked behind to see a gaping hole in the hibernating trees behind him. The blonde looked back at Kuro.

His irises and pupils were red and shaped like a targeting system. He began to glow as a deep hum echoed through the area. "Combat mode on."

Kichirou dove out of the way of another beam and managed to kick Kuro in the side. However, instead of the desired effect, Kichirou felt like his leg had been hit by a steel bat. "Argh! M-my leg!"

"I will eliminate all obstacles. Starting with you."

* * *

"Oh goodie! You've finally arrived!" A voice said. Daria looked around the cave wildly, not yet adjusted to the darkness. "I was wondering what took them so long."

"Wh-who are you?" Daria asked. A giggle escaped the voice. Soon, the giggles turned into outright laughter.

"Well, Dar. You don't remember Peri?" The voice asked. Daria shook her head. Finally, when she had adjusted to the dark, she gasped.

"W-wait... I know you! Peri, as in, **Periwinkle** from Screaming Banshee?" Daria asked. The girl giggled again after hopping down from wherever she was and standing in front of Daria. There was no mistake, the black dress, the white stockings, the blue eyes, the pale indigo hair in a bow shaped bun. All of it was the same as the last time they met.

"Bingo! I thought they erased me from your memory as well! Don't worry me so much!" She said, giggling again before her eyes went dark (almost black), red swirling around in her eyes. "Now come to me."

Daria gasped as she felt the pressure that filled the cave. "W-What do you want now?"

"Isn't it obvious? Your pretty white roses. I think they would do nicely in my collection. Don't you?"


	16. Wrong Choice

**_A/N:_** ** _New chapter! Woohoo!_**

 ** _I just want to thank_** **This is the real deal** ** _for the reviews you wrote. First of all, it's nice to see a nice long comment which is full of constructive criticism. I will take your advice into account and I hope you enjoy the rest of the story!_**

* * *

 ** _Previously on Phoenix Wing:_**

 _"Because you will be the one to fall here." She said and suddenly, a dangerous aura exploded from her. "No one will stop me from rescuing my sister."  
Steele sighed and pulled his left hand out of his pocket and stuck it out to the side. Shadows formed around his arm before transforming into a sword. "Unfortunate choice of last words, miss."_

* * *

 _He reared back his fist and surrounded it with wind, aiming for her face. She effortlessly caught his fist and knocked it away like he was made of paper.  
"I was hoping to kill someone stronger but," her grin turned bloodcurdling as she licked her lips and bared her fangs at him. "I guess I'll fight you as an appetizer."_

* * *

 ** _Chapter 16:_** ** _Wrong Choice_**

Akeno rushed towards Steele and swung her sword at him. Steele jumped backwards before stabbing at her opening with his shadow blade. Akeno grunted as she just barely dodged, managing to lessen the damage to only a light wound. She sprung backwards as he attacked again.

"You're faster than I thought," Steele stated. "Who taught you your swordplay?"

She ignored his question and glared at him, causing Steele to sigh. He rushed towards her and began rushing her with a flurry of sword strikes, causing the purple haired woman to go on the defensive. She danced around his attacks, parrying the stabs that she couldn't dodge.

Suddenly, Akeno was knocked aside, tumbling through the snow. She gasped in pain before looking down to see a shadow sword sticking out of her side. She wrenched it out and threw it to the side, causing the weapon to fade away as she gripped her side and coughed up a little blood. She glared at the man in front of her who simply smirked.

"What's with the dirty look? Nobody ever said it was just a sword fight." He said as he summoned more shadow swords in a ring around her. "My job doesn't require a fight with rules."

"I see..." She stood up slowly. She raised a finger before lowering it suddenly. "In that case, Raiu."

Lightning struck from the sky, electrocuting Steele. He dropped to his knee. Once the flash of light cleared, Akeno grinned at the sight. Steele stood up from the floor, wiping the blood off his face.

"Lightning. That's troublesome..." He sent the circles of swords flying towards her with a flick of his wrists. She jumped onto the hilt of one blade before leaping off it and above the other swords. She dove forwards, rolling out of the way of more swords being fired at her. She nimbly dodged the swords he fired relentlessly.

She ducked under another shadow blade before running to him and slashing at him. Steele stepped back. He created a rapier and stabbed at her. Instead of jumping back, Akeno just twisted slightly to avoid the weapon. She ducked around and grabbed him by the shoulders.

"Lightning Pulse!" There was a bright flash of light as electricity exploded around her. She grinned once the light had cleared and she laid her eyes on the body, limp on the ground. "Is that all you've got? I expected more, considering how much talking you did."

"Of course not." She gasped and turned before gasping and looking down. A sword was pierced through the center of her chest. She held back her pained noise, looking back up to see Steele smirking down at her.

"How did you-" Steele just looked at her blankly before cutting her off.

"You're too arrogant. If you had checked carefully, you would have been able to tell it was a shadow dummy. I never reveal myself straight away." He said, yanking the sword out and shaking the blood off.

Akeno yelped and gripped at her chest. She aimed a kick at his face, making him side step to avoid it. He looked at her intently for a few seconds before shaking his head with a small smile.

"You have that determined look in your eyes. Before we wiped her memories, Daria had that same look in her eyes. She was so nai-" He was cut off as Akeno punched him in the chin, sending him flying back. She glared at the floor as she strode over to where he lay next to a tree

"How dare you?! Not only did you steal her but you tampered with her mind? I'll..." Her aura doubled in intensity as she looked at him. Steele flinched as he saw her eyes, all control lost as they seemed to glow with her rage. She gripped the hilt of her sword so tightly that her knuckles turned white. Electricity flowed all around her body as the ground itself seemed to shake. "...I'll kill you!"

* * *

"A-appetizer!?" Xavier yelled before being tackled. He gasped as he skidded backwards, trying to stay upright. Yang dropped onto all fours and grinned at him.

She suddenly pounced at him again. He narrowly dodged her by sidestepping but got struck by the next attack. She was relentless. After pouncing at him, she would just bounce off another surface and fly towards him. He was struggling to evade the attacks.

"You'll never be able to win!" She provoked before disappearing from his view. His blue eyes darted left and right, trying to pinpoint the woman. A shiver went down his spine as something wet dragged up his neck. "I'm right here..."

He looked up and spotted her hanging upside down from a branch, tongue out and golden eyes shining brightly. She smirked and flipped so she was upright, kicking him in the process and sending him flying backwards.

"Aw... you're so disappointing... I bet Yin is having a lot of fun." She said, frowning. She stood up and strode over to him.

"Blade Surge!" He shouted, a steel grey magic circle on his palm. A sphere of rotating wind blasted past Yang's face, making her hair fly around wildly. After a few seconds of silence, the orangette began to laugh, turning to face where the orb had gone.

"Kyahahaha! Was that... haha... supposed to stop me?! You're more pathetic than I thought!" She barked, laughing crazily.

"Force Leg." She turned at the sound of his voice. Xavier kicked her in the chin and wind blasted from his attack, sending her flying high into the air. The vortex of wind around his leg dissipated, while he watched her falling to the ground.

Much like a cat, she recovered mid air and twisted so she landed on two feet but was surprised when the wind orb from earlier flew back around and hit her in the face, knocking her onto all fours. She grunted and spat out a tooth, wiping the blood from the cuts on cheek. She looked up at him with blazing gold eyes, excitement painting her face.

"My tooth... And my cheek was cut... To think you actually hurt me? I underestimated you!" He raised an eyebrow as her voice seemed to crack with excitement the more she spoke. "I guess I'll have to get a little serious."

Suddenly she was beside him, a feral grin on her face as she raised a hand. Her hand was covered by a strong flame as she brought it back down and punched him. Xavier grabbed at his cheek, feeling the heat lingering on his face. Yang came at him again but he managed to punch her in the gut with a wind covered fist, sending her tumbling backwards.

"Wind Bu-" He was cut off by a yelp as he was hit from behind by a fireball.

Suddenly, as if triggered by the flame, his nerves seemed to react all at once. Pain shot throughout his body as images flashed through his thoughts at a pace that couldn't be understood. He wanted to scream as loud as he could but his voice got caught in his throat.

"What?" Yang questioned when she saw Xavier. He gripped his hair, tugging lightly as he screamed silently, hunching over. She raised an eyebrow. "Such a reaction from a simple fireball? What kind of- No... Are you afraid of fire?"

Xavier let go of his hair, instead he put his hand to his side, feeling phantom pain burning at his flesh but he didn't know why. It felt as if hot metal had been pushed into the side of his stomach with no mercy. Fear flooded his mind. All he wanted was to get away from the feeling and he had to force himself to look up at her face.

"You're afraid of fire! I feel sorry for you. To go up against a fire user is bad enough for you but, you're going against a fire user who absolutely hates weaklings! A sadist, a monster! Kyahahaha!" Yang cackled.

She punched him, sending him to the ground. She grinned while she stood over him and giggled like a deranged school girl. A menacing grin overtook her features as she stepped on him, twisting her foot around.

"I actually expected less from you! At least you can die knowing that you sort of entertained me." As she said this, her body burst into flames. Xavier weakly grabbed onto the foot on his chest and tried to push her off. He coughed as the smoke invaded his lungs.

He screamed, feeling the heat burning away at his skin. "Stop! Stop, please..."

"Oh I love hearing weaklings beg for mercy." She sighed contentedly. Xavier couldn't see past the tears in his eyes and the ash on his glasses. Breathing was a struggle on its own.

Suddenly, he heard Yang yelp as the weight was suddenly removed. He gasped for air as the smoke faded, the heat of the flames no longer on him.

"Xavier! Are you okay?!" A deep voice shouted. Xavier rolled onto his stomach, barely able to see the blond scowling at the scene.

"A-Antoine..." Xavier mumbled, taking deep breaths of air. The man glanced at Yang before looking back to his fallen comrade. His face was unusually forlorn... no, frustrated? His eyebrows furrowed together and the usual intense life in his eyes was nowhere to be found.

Yang stood up from the floor before suddenly grinning even wider. "You surprised me? I couldn't even sense your presence before you hit me with the grey thingy."

Antoine kept walking over to Xavier and knelt beside him. "It's just not my day... Who are you?"

"You're strong. Now that you're in front of me, I can feel it." She brushed aside his question. "Fight me."

"I will when you answer me. Who are you and what are you doing?"

"What did it look like? I was burning that kid alive. He thought he could beat me!" Yang yelled, excitedly bouncing around.

"Xavier, can you walk?" After the redhead nodded warily, Antoine stood up and glared at Yang, red eyes studying her quickly. "I suggest you move... now."

He helped the 17-year old boy up. Xavier started to move away, making the orange haired female bristle angrily.

"Oi! Who said you could leave?" She shouted, running and aiming to tackle Xavier. However, before she could even leap into the air, the blond man blocked her way. The air was forcefully knocked out of her lungs by a hard knee to her stomach. She flew backwards, rolling in the grass to protect herself from the impact. The redhead glanced back for a few seconds before shaking his head and running.

"Well who said you could turn your back to me?" He said. Yang gave a feral growl, getting onto her hands and feet and dropping low to the ground, like a cat about to pounce.

"Quake," Antoine summoned a tiny black semitransparent orb, tossing it around like a ball. He turned his wrist so his palm was face down and released the orb, letting it float gently to the floor.

The moment it sunk into the grass, the earth began to vibrate violently, a loud drone sound echoing through the clearing.

"Wh-what is this magic!?" Yang yelled over the loud drone as she lost her footing on the shaking ground. "It's... exciting! You're so strong compared to that weakling! My blood is rush-"

She was cut off when the floor stopped shaking as he clenched his fist suddenly. Yang lost her balance, falling face first into the dirt.

"He is not weak at all, just inexperienced." Antoine said, stalking up to her and glaring down with scarlet eyes.

"Oh really? He's so scared of fire that it's just pathetic. A weak fireball hit his back and he started freaking out! He looked like he wanted to cry." She said, jumping backwards.

"Being afraid is not pathetic. It's human."

"Don't act all soft! I can feel it... You can be a crazy psycho like me, no, worse than me! Why do you hide it from me?! If you keep acting like a nice person, I'll kill you. No matter how strong yo-"

"Soft..." He interrupted her with a soft mumble before looking at her again, a sadistic grin melting into his blank expression. "I can never disappoint a lady. How about I show you that horrible side you want so badly?"

Suddenly, Yang was rethinking her choice. An evil aura flooded the area, so thick she thought she might choke on it. She stared into red eyes and started to really regret bringing out his dark side as he smirked wickedly. Her excitement seeped out at his next words.

"You're a fire mage right? Let me show you some real fire magic."

" **Incinerate.** "

* * *

Xavier turned backwards as he heard the drone from behind him stop. He gazed as an explosion of dark red flames, brighter than any flames he's ever seen before, erupted from the forest. Pain shot up his side at the sight of the fire and breathing became harder than before. He turned away, trying not to imagine being caught in the fire and trying to remember why he's so scared of it in the first place. He recalled only one memory from his childhood.

There was fire all over his right side as he screamed. People watched as he writhed in pain. Who were they? Why was that happening?

He couldn't remember.

* * *

 ** _A/N:_** ** _I started the fights between the Banshees and the Phoenixes! I have actually had pretty big plans and ideas for this story that I'm so excited for but will have to wait because I don't want to rush it too much. I thought it was for the best to introduce a few ideas now so I'm sorry if things seem too rushed or sudden._**

 ** _Also, I slipped in a link between the two fights to get the timing correctly. If you recognized it, skip this paragraph or risk being told what you already know. If you didn't notice, during Akeno's fight(when Akeno gets angry), the ground begins to shake and then, in his battle, Antoine makes the ground shake, meaning he did the magic around that same time that Akeno threatened to kill Steele._**

 ** _The fights were surprisingly hard for me to write and I struggled to get these done but I persevered. Thanks for reading and reviews are appreciated._**

 ** _SHAMELESS ADVERTISING CORNER!:_** ** _If you like Katekyo Hitman Reborn, please read my fanfics about it: Rantings of a Teenage Mafioso and Even Though My Name Is Tsunayoshi, I'm Still A Girl! If you don't know the show, go watch/read it! . Also, read my friend Animeangie's first story, Fruity Mew Mew: Mews Unite! Arigato!_**


	17. Valentine's Special!

**_A/N:_** ** _I know I'm like a couple days late, but here's a gift for you lovely readers! Happy Belated Valentine's Day!_**

A tired sigh escaped her lips as she inhaled the smell of freshly baked bread and leaned against the counter. Rae absolutely adored the bakery and all of its lovely customers but during the holidays, she just needed a break from all the frantic customers. Dusting the flour off her apron, she quickly darted around the counter to sit in one of the chairs as she gazed outside the window. People walked in and out of various shops, obviously getting some last minute gifts before Valentine's Day rolled around. A lot of people had been driving her crazy by asking for the fanciest cakes for their lovers and the like. The shop's delivery boy had exhausted his magic and ended up having to walk due to all the orders they had, not to mention how Kate was currently throwing buckets of edible glitter on a cake in the back, trying to make the order look as close to the extremely sparkly picture they were given as a reference.

"Hello?" A voice said from the door. Rae shot up, opening her eyes and settling her golden gaze on a man's figure. A warm smile replaced her frown as she walked over to hug her boyfriend.

"Antoine! Sorry I couldn't make it over yesterday. I fell asleep while I was tutoring Yuu last night so his mother just let me stay in their guest room." She mumbled into his chest. The blonde wrapped his arms around the girl quickly, ruffling her orange pixie cut.

"You already explained yourself, its fine. Anyway, are you ready to go?" He said, releasing her and letting her step back.

"Go?"

"We're going out today for a Valentine's date. You know, since tomorrow is an event for Phoenix Wing?" He poked her in the cheek, faking an annoyed expression.

She slapped his finger away before smiling. "I forgot about that, sorry." Suddenly she smirked. "Your priorities are all messed up you know. Picking your guild over your girlfriend."

"They're my family! Besides, do you really have the right to sass me when I'm taking you for an extremely expensive day out?"

They stared at each other for a few seconds before bursting out in laughter. Rae untied her apron and threw it to the counter before trotting back to Antoine. He opened the door and gestured for her to go.

"My lady," he said as she passed by. He closed the door behind him and wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

"Oh thank you, good sir." She said quietly.

Back in the shop, Kate, her assistant, made the universal gag gesture, turning away from the couple. The black haired girl turned to knead more bread dough. "That was so sweet, it's disgusting." She groaned.

"That's what a lonely single person says. It's not their fault you don't have a Valentine." Kate sent a dirty look to the delivery boy, Verte. The green haired teen sent back a goofy grin.

"Shut up, Verte."

...

"I envy their relationship." Akeno sighed dreamily, staring through her binoculars as she watched the two on their date. Blue eyes stared at her as the man gave her the most blank look he could muster. "Two years and they still act like a new couple."

"Why are we even here?" Marcus growled, causing Akeno to stare back at him. "We have to help Sayri organi-"

"Shut up, please. Do you ever have fun? Or even take a break?"

"Maybe I would have time for breaks if you actually did your job rather than fussing over Daria or mindlessly training and leaving me to do both our jobs! Sayri needs help organizing things, doing paperwork, managing peace, ord-" He was interrupted again by the purple haired woman.

"Shut up, workaholic." Because of those words, she had to dodge a bullet that whizzed past her face, sending her tumbling backwards and out of the tree they were hiding in.

"Get back to work or that will go between your eyes."

"I'll kill you, Marc!" She yelled from where she landed on the pavement. His eye twitched in anger at the nickname before he smirked. Two can play at that game.

"I'd like to see you try, Ako!" He yelled right afterwards.

"DON'T CALL ME THAT!" Akeno and Marcus shouted at the same time, Marcus mocking her angry shout, already knowing she hated that nickname and would react like that. Akeno growled before shouting and being copied again, "you son of a - GODDAMNIT! STOP DOING THAT!"

...

"Kichi-san... what do you think?" She asked, looking at her teammate with tears building up in her eyes, not sure what to do and getting frustrated. He stared at the items in her hands blankly before gazing back up and flinching at the sight of her tearing up.

"Don't cry! Okay... both are nice?" He asked, not sure if that was the right answer.

"But that's the problem! The beauty contest is tomorrow and I feel like I'm going to try this year so I want it to be perfect!" She whined. She held the two bottles closer to his face and pouted. "So which lip gloss? The Berry or the Pepper? Akeno-nee says Berry Splash is better." She said, showing him the bottle of pink lip gloss.

"So take that."

"But Hot Pepper makes me feel zingy rather than fruity so both are good." She said, placing the red lip gloss next to the other one. Kichirou frowned, they had been going back and forth like this for ten minutes and he already felt like he had aged ten years instead.

"Daria... I really can't tell the difference." After a long, uncharacteristic sigh, Daria gave him a disappointed look. "Fine... take Berry Splash."

"Okay." There was a pregnant pause. "But I also like Hot Pe-"

"Daria!"

...

"That's nice. A picnic in the flowerbeds." Rae gave a pleased hum as she sat down and opened a container full of tiny little cookies. A gently breeze tickled her nose as she gently brushed her thumb over the flower petals. The blond man picked up an oddly shaped treat and bit into it.

"I made them myself." Antoine looked at her from the corner of his eye as he lay on his back in the grass. He smiled. "They look pretty crappy but Maia says they taste good."

"Maia? Is she talking now?" Rae gave him a surprised look. He chuckled and looked to the clouds.

"Still as quiet as ever." Rae pouted before popping a milk chocolate heart into her mouth. Or, what she thought was a heart cookie. They did, in fact, look pretty crappy.

"Ooh! Delicious!" She squealed happily, causing Antoine to wince at the tone. "Oh sorry, sorry."

"No, it's not you. I usually don't mind when you squeal but my head is killing me." He mumbled.

Rae tilted her head before running a hand through her hair like Antoine was prone to do. "Tell me, what did I miss?"

"Well...

 _Antoine sighed as he put the communications lacrima into his requip space. Rae either wasn't at home or was asleep, considering how she wasn't answering the lacrima that was placed in her kitchen._

 _"I guess these cupcakes will go to waste then. Is there a girl who would like these?" Suddenly he heard a piercing squeal. He flinched and looked down to see a girl looking up at him with a red face and heart eyes. She held onto two chunks of her long pink hair, as if to help her remember this was reality._

 _"Are you asking me? Oh my god, Antoine Valentine wants to give me chocolates." She squealed even louder, attracting other people's attention. Almost everyone just ignored the scene but the other fangirls in the vicinity were immediately surrounding him._

 _"I want chocolates too!"_

 _"Antoine, I love you!"_

 _"Why is she getting Valentine's chocolates?"_

 _At the loud sound of these girls questioning him and grabbing for his chocolates, he panicked and stepped away from the tiny crowd._

 _"Hey, um... I have a girlfriend, girls. You all know that and shouldn't be going after a taken man." He rushed. They all simultaneously gave each other blank looks before looking back at him._

 _"Then break up with her." One girl shouted. A few people in his crowd of fangirls shouted disapproval and he blessed their souls but the majority shouted approval. So, he dropped the cakes and bolted._

Rae stared blankly at him for a while before shaking her head with a giggle. "Your fangirls are crazy. They know you are dating someone and they still try to get your attention."

"It's good you're so understanding."

"I try." She exclaimed. "As long as I don't see you flirting with the girls like when-"

"I'm sorry! It was one time! I even got us a romantic date with fireworks to apologize for it." He said, an embarrassed blush tinting his cheeks. Rae laughed harder. He glared at her before looking back at the clouds.

"Don't get mad, I was just teasing. I know you love me, so I don't mind." She muttered, lying on her back next to him. Antoine turned to face her. He gently moved a strand of hair behind her ear and leaned over to mumble in the crook of her neck.

"It's so peaceful just laying in the grass with you, watching clouds. My day was way too stress-" She shoved a chocolate into his mouth and leaned backwards. He gave her a startled look as he quickly chewed and swallowed the sweet."Wha-"

"Shh... Let's just watch the clouds." Rae interrupted, placing her finger against her lips and winking. At his disapproving noise, she snickered and playfully smacked his shoulder. "We have all afternoon! I can't believe you're still as talkative as when we first started dating."

With a dramatic sigh and roll of the eyes, Antoine lay back on his back and stared up at the clouds. Rae giggled as she moved so she lay her head on his chest. They just stayed like that, silently watching clouds together.

...

"Akeno." Marcus exclaimed as he noticed the girl walk into the office with a smile on her face and a completely different attire on. She admired herself in the mirror before walking back to the door. "What are you doing?"

"What does it look like? I'm making sure my outfit for tomorrow fits." She said as she stopped at the door and turned back to face him. Marcus' blue eyes dulled before he sighed and continued signing papers.

"Well take that off and come sign these."

"Of course not." His gaze snapped back to her face at those words. He rose to his feet and stalked over to her before glaring down at her.

"Why not?" He growled. Her eyes lit up with defiance as she glared back at him, purple clashing with blue.

"Because, you know that I'm performing. Not only in the parade and the pageant, I'm also displaying my swordsmanship so I have to make sure it fits." She snapped back.

"In a goddamn evening gown?!" He had started to raise his voice and so, Akeno did too. Her fists clenched as she pushed him out of her face.

"Yes, actually. If you don't include the sword part."

"But that was my point!" He was getting exasperated. "Just take the dress off for goodness sake and get to work!"

She turned away from him and moved to open the door. "No. Maybe I'll help Daria choose an outfit to match mine. I mean, I think the dress really suits me and will probabl-"

"Do I have to take that dress off you myself?!"

The silence was long and extremely awkward for both parties after his poorly phrased question. Akeno tried to muffle her chuckles as she stared at Marcus' face change rapidly from his normal peachy shade, to a ghastly white to a tomato red. He gaped like a goldfish, trying to recover from his mistake.

"Wait... No! Um... Goddamn that came out wrong! I... um..." He covered his blushing face with his hands and moved back to his desk where he sat in shame and embarrassment. "Just go. I don't care anymore."

Akeno left the room, trying to not laugh and risk getting him mad. As she left the room she stared at the boy who was standing outside the door, stacks of paper in his arms and a shocked, blushing expression on his face. _'Oh, the mail boy.'_ She burst out laughing as she pat the boy's shoulder, quickly explaining that nothing happened there.

He didn't look like he believed her.

...

"Xavi-" Daria was cut short when the teen abruptly stood, grabbed the dress on the left and shoved it in her face.

"Pick this one."

"How did you know what I wanted to ask?" She questioned, tilting her head to show her confusion.

"Kiro told me." He gestured his thumb back to the boy who sat behind him, a frustrated frown on his face. Kichirou sent Daria an unidentifiable look before tucking his head into his knees. Xavier just nodded before saying the dress he picked made her eyes stand out.

Daria nodded enthusiastically before waving and skipping off. But before she could leave the room, she came rushing back in. "But the pink one has spark-"

"Daria!"

...

Valentine's morning came around very early for the members of Phoenix Wing, willing or not as they set up the event hall that was just a short walk from the guild hall. The decorations were adjusted to be perfect, the girls competing in the pageant were getting dressed up and covered in makeup and the like. Marcus and Sayri were instructing everyone and keeping order. The girls who weren't competing or performing anything were either doing decorations or helping the others practice. The guys were mostly doing the heavy lifting or helping prepare the stage in the back.

Xavier lay sprawled on the stage, surrounded by sparkly red tinsel and heart decorations. He groaned tiredly and rolled onto his side.

"What's wrong with you?" Nene asked as she walked past him, a huge pillar shrugged over her shoulder yet she didn't look bothered at all. He turned to look at her through squinted eyes.

"I'm tired. It's _way_ too early for me to be moving around and helping anybody." Xavier mumbled, only audible to Nene because of her heightened senses. Speaking of her heightened senses...

"You smell like shit." She stated blankly, placing the pillar down and taking a step back.

" One, that's hyperbole and you know it-" He began.

"I have no clue what that word means."

"-And two, its cause I didn't take a shower yet." He finished, ignoring her interruption. Nene's expression turned bewildered as she raised an eyebrow.

"What the fuck? Why?" She asked, with a tired groan he sat up to look her right in the eye.

"I was getting yelled at for not waking up earlier so I was told to shower later because we have to prepare the stage."

"Okay...? Sure, just pretend I was never here." She picked the pillar up and marched off, combat boots clicking loudly against the floor as she walked. Xavier sighed before flopping back onto the stage, closing his eyes and going back to trying (and failing) to sleep.

On the other side of the hall, a door lead into a dressing room where the performers were getting ready. Excitement buzzed through the air. Everyone was looking forward to the event. Well, mostly everyone.

"Eeeek!" Kichirou squeaked as he felt hands clasp down on his shoulders. The woman in front of him gave him a strange look at the feminine squeal, causing Kichirou to look away in shame. "C-C- **Cammy**!"

"Yeah, that's my name. Anyway, I need your help." Her light brown eyes stared directly at him, causing his face to go red.

"W-With what?" He tried to stop his hands from shaking. Even he thought his shyness was a bit ridiculous.

"This year, I want to win. No matter what." She stepped back and he managed a glance at her. Her shoulder length dirty blonde hair had the natural curls straightened out so her hair framed her pale face. She folded her arms in front of her green dress, blocking the sweet heart neckline that exposed quite a bit of cleavage. His eyes darted back up to her face, his blush deepening as he realized he was staring. "So I need your help to win this."

He raised an eyebrow. _'Why is she avoiding the question?'_ She grinned a shark-like grin.

"So unless you want something _unfortunate_ to happen to you, I suggest you follow my orders." He didn't care anymore, he squeaked even louder.

...

"Welcome to our Valentine's Day Festival!" The crowd began cheering and shouting as Antoine came out of the event hall doors, wearing a fancy suit with a bright red shirt. As usual, the top buttons were undone but his suit jacket and trousers were dark and absolutely clean. "As usual, I, Antoine Valentine, will be the host and... the main part." He winked, causing the fangirls who were part of the crowd to squeal. His shudder was barely visible as he tried to ignore it.

"Oi, Antoine! Don't try hog the glory for everyone's work." A youthful, feminine voice said into their own microphone. A young, but quite tall, girl walked out of the door and stood next to the man, crossing her arms. She had a tight red dress with a pair of high heeled ankle boots, dressing surprisingly mature for a girl that was only 12 years old.

"Angelique, you're joining me this year?" He asked. The girl nodded confidently. "Well then, since we have both Valentine siblings ready, let's start off the show! We're going to start off with the opening round of the beauty pageant, Phoenix Queen!"

"That name sucks." Angelique said, causing quite a bit of the audience to laugh. "Anyways, our judges are: Starting with the owner of the best bakery in town, Rae Wells!" The orange haired female blushed and looked down at all the attention she was getting as well as the flattery. Antoine placed a comforting hand on her shoulder to reassure her before introducing the next judge.

"Next we have, the representative for our town during those super boring, monthly meetings in Crocus, Quentin Blake!" The man chuckled before standing and waving at the crowd, earning cheers. "Thanks for all your hard work and glad you could make it to our humble event."

"No problem! I wouldn't want to miss something that the people of Amaryllis adore." He said before sitting again.

"Our third judge is... Antoine? Did we make a mistake?" Angelique questioned, staring at the blue haired man in front of her.

"Well, excuse you! I'm a qualified judge!" Lyken whined, causing the girl to glare up at him. He shrank back into his seat at her next words.

"More like qualified pervert." The crowd exploded in a mixture of cheers and laughter. Angelique scoffed and turned away from Lyken, trying not to trip over anything in her boots while making her way to the stage.

Antoine exaggeratedly gestured at the last judge, making this one the loudest and most excited. "And the organizer of the event, the guild master herself. SAYRI VOLS!" Sayri smiled at the crowd before focusing her eyes on the stage.

"Antoine, get over here so we can start. I bet the girls are freaking out back there." Antoine hurried over to the two seats on the side of the stage and sat beside his younger sister.

"Okay then, let's begin the Presentation Round."

The first girl was a very confident looking Akeno, striding on stage like she owned the place and with her hair tied back to draw attention to the diamond necklace she has on. Her red dress brushed her ankles as she gently adjusted her white gloves. Her heels clicked against the floor as she made her way to the center of the stage. She stopped for a short while to allow the judges a good look at her. Smiling, she turned and walking back off stage. As she moved, the slit in her dress exposed her left leg which was covered by stockings.

Right after her, Saika walked on stage, not as flashy as Akeno was, but still keeping everyone attention with her presence. She smirked as she stopped in the middle, twisting to face the back but keeping her head turned to the side. She gently pushed her auburn hair out of her face and winked. The vermillion dress exposed her back and brushed against the floor, adding an elegance to her look as she strode off on her heels.

Shortly after, Daria quickly went on stage, nervousness showing as she walked into the middle. She smiled at the crowd, trying her best to mask her worry. Her usual gold bracelets were replaced with one black one and one white one to match her ceremonial dark green dress and wooden sandals. She unknowingly fidgeted with the braid she had slung over her shoulder before scurrying back through the way she came.

As a blonde woman walked out, Xavier stood up. There were definitely more contestants afterwards but Xavier hadn't stayed to watch them. He had an anxious friend to comfort.

...

"I messed everything up! Kichi-san was with me, giving me a pep talk and then I started to feel nervous. I ruined my chances." Daria whined pathetically, lying on her back. As if on cue, Kichirou walked over to where they sat on the grass, away from the bustling and loud event hall. He sat with them, a nervous smile plastered on his face.

"Daria, are you okay?" Kichirou asked. The girl gave a long, uncharacteristic sigh before looking at him with watering green eyes.

"No." She said as she turned her back to them. "I was hoping I would just go up and be great, like Akeno-nee always is. I just wanted her to be proud of me."

Suddenly, Kichirou looked extremely guilty. His expression made it obvious. He reached out and put a hand on her shoulder, rubbing soothing circles. "I'm sorry."

"What? Why?" Daria asked, turning to face him again. He looked away.

"I pressured you, didn't I? I'm sorry and I shouldn't have. You would have been great even if I didn't give you all those pointers."

Xavier stood up and stepped away from the two. _'I'll let Kichirou deal with it. After all, they're best friends.'_ He smiled before walking away, leaving the brunette to comfort his best friend.

...

"Well, that was... interesting?" Angelique said, not really sure what to make of the event.

"I think the word you're looking for is: amazing." Antoine said as the last girl walked off stage. "All the girls looked wonderful in their outfits and I think the crowd is loving it!" His response was awarder with cheers.

"Anyways, while the contestants prepare for the talent round, we have a few performers from our guild! First we have a musical performance from Sakura Lockheart!"

The pink haired woman sat on a chair that was placed on stage for her. Her blue eyes gazed out at the crowd before focusing on the guitar in her arms. She experimentally strummed before adjusting her hold and beginning to play. Her soft voice accompanied her music well as she started to sing.

As the music played, Xavier walked over to a table with drinks and snack, being careful not to bump into anyone. He spotted his theme drink, Air God, and stepped over to take a glass. He sipped at it before his eyes widened. It was so sour but tasted really good. He guessed the sweetness was lowered.

He glanced over at the other drinks, marveling at the appearance and variety. Daria was right, her drink actually was a milkshake. He looked at his transparent liquid and was utterly confused on how Maia had made such a blend of flavors while keeping it clear.

"Well this stand is new." A voice said from next to him. He turned to see a man looking at him, a little girl gently holding onto his shirt and staring directly at Xavier with her large violet eyes.

"Oh yeah. I'm a new member. I joined a while back. My name is Xavier." He said. The black haired man looked at him in surprise before picking up a glass.

"Well, nice to meet you." He chugged the glass down in one go. He finished and looked at Xavier strangely before nodding in approval and walking off, making sure to pick up his daughter and carry her.

...

"Time for the talent round! Ladies, start your engines!" Angelique shouted. Antoine gave her a blank look.

"Angie? This is a pageant." He said, causing Angelique to sweat drop and look down.

Akeno came on first, wearing a kendo uniform without the heavy armor. She raised her sword and immediately, the stage lit up with lightning, causing pretty lights on the stage to light up, making a large heart appear behind her. She then demonstrated a few basic swords swings before going into an energetic sword routine. She was flipping around the stage swinging her sword around. The crowd cheered as she did a particularly amazing trick where she stuck her sword into the stage, jumped and balanced on the sword with one arm.

Then, she waltzed over to the judges before asking Quentin to take an apple from a basket and throw it. The white haired man gave her a strange look before nodding and picking up the apple. Akeno closed her eyes as Quentin threw the apple at her. The audience gasped as the apple suddenly sliced in half.

"Now can you throw the watermelon." He snapped out of his startled daze and complied. Struggling a little to get it off the table, he picked it up. He threw it, and just like with the apple, Akeno closed her eyes and the fruit magically cut into quarters.

"Finally, Nene. Throw that boulder from outside at me." Nene shrugged in response before going outside to retrieve said boulder. She walked back in, a huge rock that was easily bigger than her shrugged over her shoulder.

"Hope you're ready. I'm not holding back." Nene said before launching the stone at her. Then, before their very eyes, they watched as the boulder was diced into pieces. The applause was incredible as Akeno bowed. As she walked off, the Valentine siblings shared surprised looks.

"That was incredible!" Angelique whispered into her brothers ear. "I want to learn how she did that."

"Maybe later, right now we have to keep up appearances. Look, Saika's up." Antoine said, dismissively waving her away.

Saika went up to the front of the stage, sniper rifle in hand and a smirk on her tan face. She jutted out her hip, showing off her tight black miniskirt with bandoliers sewn in as a terrifying yet beautiful design. Not to mention her tank top with the skull wearing sniper goggles.

"Miss Rae," Saika curtsied before holding a hand out for her. The golden eyed girl looked startled before nodding. "I would like you to join me for my performance this year."

Rae was reluctant but she stood up and grabbed Saika's hand before being hefted onto stage. "Okay? What are we doing?"

"This!" She darted off stage before dragging a wheel back with her. She quickly grabbed Rae and tied her to the wheel while the woman struggled to escape. "Don't worry, 'm the best marksman you'll ever meet.

"Wait, what?! You're not going to do those knife throwing things to me right? I don't want to die!" Rae rushed, trying to get out of her restraints.

"No way!" Too bad, Rae's sigh of relief got cut short by Saika's next statement. " 'm going to shoot instead."

Rae's screams were unnoticed by the gunner. Antoine looked about ready to leap out of his seat and rescue his girlfriend (Probably punch Saika in the process, too.) but he was being held back by the blonde teenage girl beside him.

"Bro, calm down. Saika knows what she's doing." Angelique growled. Antoine sat back in his chair but she could tell by his blazing eyes that he was not amused. A not amused Antoine, was not a pleasant one either.

"Will someone please spin the wheel?" Saika said as she put on earmuffs and goggles, sitting on a chair with her gun ready and loaded. One of the closest people to the stage went and span the wheel before rushing back to their seat to watch. "Okay!"

Immediately, Rae screamed again as a bullet wedged right next to her head. Bullets rained upon the wheel, either landing in a safe zone or narrowly missing the orange haired female. Shock and fear spread through the audience as Antoine looked away, unable to keep watching this.

"Antoine? You don't act like this when Saika uses other live targets." Antoine sent her a ruby colored glare which silenced the girl, sending her back to watching the show.

"You can stop yer screaming now. 'M done." Saika quickly untied the judge before turning the wheel from the side to face the front. Her shooting had created the image of a heart in the wood. The crowd cheered as both Rae and Antoine too deep breaths and relaxed, knowing she was okay. Saika curtsied again and walked off.

Afterwards, Daria walked on stage, asking someone to clear the stage for her. She was wrapped up in a dark cloak, covering her entire body except her face. Her hair was loose with two strands being braided and tied as a small ponytail at the back by a small green ribbon. Suddenly, everyone heard music being played from behind the stage. Another girl walked on stage with a cloak on as well. She was recognized almost instantly as she placed the lacrima down next to the stage.

Loud clicking sounds were heard as Daria turned to face the performer, Lily. They threw their coats off, showing Lily in a sleek black suit and Daria in a short green dress with a flared skirt. Lily began rapidly tapping before pointing at Daria who joined in the fancy footwork.

 **As he came into the window** **  
** **It was the sound of a crescendo** **  
** **He came into her apartment** **  
** **He left the bloodstains on the carpet** **  
** **She ran underneath the table** **  
** **He could see she was unable** **  
** **So she ran into the bedroom** **  
** **She was struck down, it was her doom** ****

 **Annie, are you OK?** **  
** **So, Annie, are you OK?** **  
** **Are you OK, Annie?** **  
** **Annie, are you OK?** **  
** **So, Annie, are you OK?** **  
** **Are you OK, Annie?** **  
** **Annie, are you OK?** **  
** **So, Annie, are you OK?** **  
** **Are you OK, Annie?** **  
** **Annie, are you OK?** **  
** **So, Annie, are you OK,?** **  
** **Are you OK, Annie?** ****

 **Annie, are you OK?  
Will you tell us that you're OK  
There's a sign in the window  
That he struck you a crescendo Annie**

Suddenly, the music stopped as the lacrima crackled and exploded. Everyone stared in wonder as the dancers got knocked out of their rhythm. Kichirou scuttled away, trying to not be seen as he escaped from the area.

But suddenly, Daria just kept on tapping, humming the melody to keep in time. Lily stared at her before also joining in the tapping and singing the lyrics.

The crowd joined in by clapping and the ones who knew Lily's song sang alongside the star.

...

"And, we have a winner!" Antoine announced, holding up an envelope with the judge scores inside. Lily stood at his side, giving Daria a thumbs up. "The winner is..."

Angelique cut off his dramatic pause by impatiently grabbing the envelope, ripping it open and reading the name out loud. "Akeno Kuroshima!"

Cheers erupted from the audience as Akeno walked forward from the line of contestants. Daria looked sort of heartbroken but clapped and hooted for Akeno anyways. The rest of the contestants looked pretty calm about the results while Cammy growled and stomped off. As she left, she made sure to send Kichirou a dirty look.

Akeno smiled as the envelope of money was handed to her. She suddenly sighed and turned back.

"Daria. Come over here and accept your prize." She held the money out to her adopted sister. Daria stared in wonder before being pushed forward by Saika. "I thought your shyness, was endearing, your malfunctions made you stronger and you and your partner's tapping was better than I could ever dance. So come here and take your prize."

There was a collective 'Aww...' as Daria rushed over and hugged the purple haired woman. "Thank you Akeno-nee."

Antoine stepped in front of the sisters after a while, waving at the crowd. "Time to say goodbye to these lovely ladies. There will be snacks and drinks outside where you can socialize while we prepare the next event: Phoenix War!"

...

The next morning was spent mostly asleep for everyone. Xavier walked into the guild at around 11 in the morning and had to step over the unconscious bodies of mages to get to the bar. With a yawn, he asked Maia for a drink since his toast in the morning was super dry and the boy's dorms lacked any beverages since they were all used for the event yesterday. Maia poured him a glass of water before going back to reading a book.

"You don't look tired at all. What's your secret?" Xavier asked, noting how even though the crazy party lasted till extremely late last night, Maia seemed well-rested and refreshed.

"I went early." Xavier gaped as he heard her speak for the first time. He tried to form words before he saw Maia shake her head. He sighed before drinking his water and yawning again.

"Well, seeing as everyone here is passed out and the others are still in their homes, I guess I'll go too." He stood up and walked out of the guild, stepping on a barely conscious person who grunted but stated asleep. He ignored it and went back to bed.

...

 ** _A/N:_** ** _Just so you know, I hit a massive writer's block with Chapter 17 so I had been writing this instead. AND IT WAS STILL LATE!_**

 ** _URRGH!_**

 ** _Anyways, I'm trying my best to get that chapter done and out of the way so I can so continue. As well as the writer's block, I had two other distractions._**

 ** _1._** **** ** _I started watching/reading Magi. It's like my life right now. I find myself dancing around giddily when chapters come out or watching scenes again and screaming alongside the characters. It's crazy fun but, I really question what I do with my life now._**

 _2._ ** _I also watched Hunter X Hunter. It's even more of my life right now. I finished it really quickly and when I heard it was re-made in 2011, I binge-watched that too. I'm sorry about this, really but I was like,_** _"Forget this story! I need to watch me some anime!"_

 ** _3._** **** ** _Then my teachers decided it was perfectly okay to all give me exams and assessments at the same time. I had to do 7 assessments. 2 of them being exam papers while the rest were like essay homework and writing a newspaper article. I'm drowning in tests._**

 ** _4._** **** ** _Our school musical is in a few weeks. Me being the stupid person who loves doing things like these, decided to join even though the practices cut into both writing time and occasionally school time. Everyone is in rush mode, trying to memorize lines, learn songs, choreograph dances, bake cakes, etc. BTW We're doing Shrek!_**

 ** _5._** **** ** _I just really lost motivation for this arc because I started planning ahead and I am way to focused on finding ways of implementing hints of my amazing greater idea that will totally blow your minds! Hopefully..._**

 ** _Wow. Longest chapter ever and longest Author's Note. I'm on a role! I'm not even going to bother adding my shameless advertising corner because this is already way too much. Yeah. Anyways,_**

 ** _Sayonara, de gozaru!_**


	18. Who Am I Even?

**_Previously on Phoenix Wing:_**

 _"I'm Yin of Screaming Banshee. But I don't see the point telling you." She said.  
"Why is that?" He asked. Yin grinned, showing off sharp fangs that didn't suit her posh attitude.  
"You're already dead."  
"Wha-?!"_

* * *

 _Kichirou dove out of the way of another beam and managed to kick Kuro in the side. However, instead of the desired effect, Kichirou felt like his leg had been hit by a steel bat. "Argh! M-my leg!"  
"I will eliminate all obstacles. Starting with you."_

* * *

 _Daria gasped as she felt the pressure that filled the cave. "W-What do you want now?"  
"Isn't it obvious? Your pretty white roses. I think they would do nicely in my collection. Don't you?"_

* * *

 ** _Chapter 17:_** ** _Who am I even?_**

Chris choked, coughing up blood as he brought a hand up to his chest. He pulled the large shard of ice out, making him cough and hack even more as blood seemed to gush out of the wound.

"Well, why would you do that?" Yin question forming a chair out of ice and sitting on it. She brought her chin down to rest in her palm as she observed the young man in front of her. "At this rate, you will bleed out before the battle even gets fun."

"Be quiet..." He placed a hand up to his chest, a warm golden glow surrounding his knuckles. After a deep breath, he jabbed his hand into the wound, making him hiss is pain. Slowly but surely, the wound stopped bleeding as he removed his ringed fingers from his chest.

"Oh my; cauterizing yourself to stop the bleeding with those metal rings. Considering what you just did, I am guessing you're a fire mage like Yang?"

"You don't know? I'm the great Soleil King of Phoenix Wing." He smirked, removing his ruined t-shirt and jacket which exposed the large sun tattoo on his chest. Yin raised an eyebrow and stared blankly for a few seconds before she gave him a pitying look.

"I have heard of you. One of the S-Class mages of your guild, right? An elite member. Considering how easy this fight will be, I pity your guild members who go against the stronger mages. "

Chris just dropped into a low stance before springing up and aiming a golden flame covered fist at Yang. Surprised, the woman jumped to her feet and sidestepped. Her surprised expression grew as she saw her ice chair melt after his fist collided with it.

His golden eyes moved from the puddle (that used to be a chair) to her face. His glare, smoldering like a fire. Yin grinned suddenly, her shark-like grin contrasting with her natural grace. She looked up into the sky and let out a barking, deranged laugh. Her gaze snapped back to him as she flicked her blue hair away from her face.

"If you can melt my ice, you must be strong. Maybe this will be fun after all."

* * *

Daria held back a scream as she was blown back from the force of the explosion. Landing ungracefully on her butt, she turned back to see the girl walk out of the smoke. The child flipped to the next page of the overly large book she held.

"Don't run! It makes life harder!" Periwinkle raised a hand, summoning spears of ice. Daria's eyes widened as she immediately jumped up and dove out of the way of the rain of ice. The black haired girl jumped from a ledge in the cave and down to a lower section in the rock. She was surprised that the cave led this deep, she had been running for a while.

"You're only 9 or 10! Shouldn't you be playing with your friends?" Daria shouted over the noise of the explosion. Periwinkle had apparently set up traps with the explosion magic beforehand, Daria mused as she realized she was stepping on a glowing magic circle and leapt off before she could get caught in the explosion.

"But I am! Isn't this game fun, Dar?" The purple haired girl giggled, flipping the page again to fire bolts of lightning at the running Phoenix Wing mage. Daria did shriek this times as she felt the electricity graze her shoulder.

"No, Peri! This is not-" Daria turned to yell at the girl but promptly stopped as she leaned away just in time to not get zapped in the face. "-fun!"

Periwinkle just giggled again before suddenly snapping the book shut. Immediately, the red explosion magic circles disappeared and the lightning that danced in her palm faded away. She stepped back and her eyes widened as she stared at whatever the heck was behind Daria.

Daria reluctantly turned around to see a large mole creature growling at her. _'Well at least Peri's backed off.'_ Daria thought as she turned around and ran the opposite way, following the similarly fleeing Periwinkle.

"Kyaaa!" Periwinkle screamed as the beast began to chase after them. "Don't hurt me, hurt her!"

"Why are you so scared? Since you laid traps here, didn't you know something lived here?" Daria asked, pulling up next to the child. Periwinkle gave her a fearful glance before suddenly bawling childishly.

"I was setting up the traps and Steele and Yin warned me that there were things living here but I didn't believe them and kept going! I didn't know they were real!" Periwinkle yelled, opening her book and summoning an ice ladder and clambering up to the ledge they jumped down earlier. Daria summoned her Rose Whip and pulled herself up, glancing worriedly as the monster roared before stomping off.

"I think it's safe now." Daria mused before haughty laughter echoed from behind her. She turned to see Periwinkle hold open her book and place one hand on her hip.

"It's not safe for _you_! As the guildmaster of Screaming Banshee, I will steal your magic and put it in my book!" Periwinkle stated, an adorable pout on her face.

"G-Guildmaster?! But, you're just a kid!" Daria shouted in disbelief. "How is this possible? Wouldn't a stronger, older mage be better?"

"I'll have you know, that my father picked me! I wield a book filled with magic from generations ago so, of course I was the best choice. Now shut up!" More ice spears were thrown at her. Daria rolled out of the way before making a break for it.

"I won't let your lies psyche me out! I need to find someone... Steele!" She shouted while running, hoping that the man would hear her.

Periwinkle gave her a pitying look, clicking her tongue. "He won't help you. He's a mage of mine, all those people you met in fact."

"What?" Daria stopped running to turn and face the child who strode forward, occasionally clicking her black pumps together.

"I wanted them to kidnap you and take you here. We just managed to erase your memory of the kidnapping to make life easier for us. You were with your friend Kichirou and the redhead kid... I think his name was Xavier."

"Kichi-san? Where is he then? What happ-" Daria was interrupted by Periwinkle's next words.

"Kuro disposed of him. He was all upset about us taking you but he was so useless! I'm not surprised, Kuro was a doll made for combat and then given life by my father's magic. I have to supply him with magic power now that I have the Ataraxia and it's a hassle but I could see everything that happened in their fight..."

Daria's mind went blank. She couldn't focus on Periwinkle's mindless babble. _'Kichirou was disposed of? Was he...'_

"DARIA!" Daria perked up at the sound of the loud shout. Immediately, all she could see was the kimono clad back as a figure stood protectively in front of her. Her green eyes flicked to the blood on the sword before flicking back to the woman who spoke. Akeno glared at the child in front of them. "Are you okay?"

"Akeno-nee... " Akeno's hard stare softened at the tone of voice as she turned to look at her adoptive sister. "Kichirou was... We need to find him."

"Kichirou? Alright." Akeno stuck her sword into the ground before clapping her hands together and closing her eyes. Suddenly, a wall of lightning formed in front of the two, blocking Periwinkle from approaching. The little girl screeched angrily before running to the wall.

"Hey! Hey, let me out!" Akeno didn't even spare her a glance as she grabbed Daria and began running out of the cave. Periwinkle sat on the floor and began rapidly flicking through the book as she tried to find a spell. "Just wait! I'll get out of here and I'll make sure to strip you of your magic too!"

* * *

"Kichirou!" Daria shouted as she noticed the body in endless plains of white, not moving or responding to her shout. She sprinted over and kneeled by him, flipping him over so he wasn't face first in the snow.

"Is he alright?" Akeno asked as she approached the duo in the snow. Daria wasn't sure what to say so she just made a 'hmm' sound. The brunette was breathing (shallow breathing but breathing nonetheless) at least, but he had bruises littering his skin and a nasty burn on his arm. Despite the shaking that Daria did, his eyes stayed closed.

"He's alive." Daria eyed the jacket that she had pulled off to survey the damage. "Kuro left him in the snow but covered him with the jacket..."

"Kuro? Who's that?" Akeno asked. Daria went quiet and after the extremely long pause, Akeno decided to drop the subject. "Anyways, we have to get him to a warmer place. Even with Antoine's jacket covering him, he might be getting hypothermia or something. We'll get the others and go back to the guild."

"Wha-What happened? Last thing I could remember was when we were baking cake for a midnight snack." There was a sharp intake of breath from Akeno at Daria's words. She had forgotten that far back?

"You... forgot a lot. You were on a mission with Kichirou and Xavier when-"

"Who's Xavier? That's the third time he was mentioned." Daria said. Daria looked confused, frustrated. Akeno grabbed Daria's arm and pulled her up before grabbing Kichirou and hoisting him over her shoulder.

"Don't worry about it. Come on, let's go."

* * *

The steam was heavy, pressing down on his skin and making it feel way too humid for comfort. The snow was melting, leaving his feet in a soaking wet puddle. As he trudged through, trying to see past the fog, he heard a noise from his left and was suddenly knocked down by a tree branch.

"You have so much more magic power than I do, yet you could not beat me. Pathetic." She said, dropping the stick in favor of throwing her arms out and dispelling the steam. She gazed down at him with a purple condescending stare. "I used all my magic and I'm still winning? Ha!"

"I'm... not done yet." Chris coughed into the snow, wincing once he saw the patch of red. He might have stopped the bleeding but he was far from being alright.

"Oh contraire. You surely," her weight settled suddenly on him as she sat down. He coughed more, scrunching his face up in pain. "Are."

Before he could struggle to get a response out through injured lungs, she suddenly stood up and jumped backwards, narrowly dodging the stab of a katana. Akeno growled lowly, advancing towards the startled blue haired woman. The women's purple eyes clashed in a heated stare-off.

It was a short period of time before suddenly Yin's eyes darted away to a tree not too far off. Her eyes widened as she stepped backwards.

"Wait, Kuro! You found-" Her call was cut off as the boy landed abruptly in front of her, looking at her with blank dark eyes. He lifted Yin over his shoulder, causing the woman to protest. Kuro locked eyes with Daria for a second, and it seemed as if his expression softened before he turned away.

"Kuro...?" Daria whispered.

"Don't." He responded blankly before leaping off into the trees. Akeno glanced warily at her sister's grim expression before she heard the green-eyed girl's outburst.

"Chris!" Daria shouted as she ran over to where he was on the ground. She summoned a rose, pressing it to his wounded chest in a vain attempt to heal him. "Are you alright?

"I'll be fine. Just... a little hungry." The girls did not appreciate his lame attempt at cheering them up.

* * *

They had startled the blond man once he saw them. He had winced upon seeing the injuries, one with a wound in his chest, two with various scratches and one who was extremely unconsious (considering the way he had slumped so ungracefully over Akeno's shoulder) and extremely pale. The man jogged up to them.

"Are you guys okay?" Daria noticed his voice had taken a darker tone. He didn't sound like himself.

Akeno's unimpressed glare was a clear sign as she gently placed Kichirou onto the grass. At least, they had managed to get out of the colder areas.

Antoine had sighed and knelt down next to the brunette's limp body. "He is breathing, which is good. He's still shivering so that means his body is still functioning correctly. What happened to him?" The blond asked, placing his ear against the younger male's chest.

"He was fighting Kuro. When we found him, he was lying face down in the snow, unconscious." Daria piped up.

"Not good. He's probably gotten hypothermia, he has a lot if the symptoms." He said as he placed a hand on his wrist, comparing Kichirou's weaker pulse with his own. "We have to remove any wet clothing. Chris give me a hand."

Daria blushed and looked away as they stripped him down to his boxers, occasionally stopping to make sure he was still breathing and his heart was still beating. Antoine had quickly brought some clothes out of his Requip Pocket Space, dressing him in an abundance of warm clothing. Daria looked back when her name was called by the doctor of the situation.

"Daria? I'm putting you in charge of him. If he suddenly stops shivering or something seems odd, tell me immediately." The green eyes girl nodded. "I'm going to look for Xavier so we can leave and get a professional to check him out."

* * *

Xavier sat down, rubbing at the side of his torso and whimpering. The feeling he felt at the heat on his back.

 _Overwhelming._

 _Chilling yet, blazing._

 _Terrifying._

His blue eyes stayed focused on the dirt as he tried to stop shaking. It was embarrassing to be so traumatized from something he couldn't even recall. It felt like he was blocked from remembering what had happened to make his body react like that. To make him instinctively fear it and cower away.

He could remember his mother who was just like him and his adoptive parents who cherished him. He could remember his adoptive sister who disliked him and constantly bullied him. But something was blank and refused to come to mind. All he could recall was the burning on his side, sharp pain in his head and the people's sickly happy faces.

He couldn't remember his own past. It made him question everything.

 _Have they been lying?_

 _Have I gone crazy?_

 _Who am I even?_

He caught a glimpse of the S-Class walking past him. He reluctantly began to follow him back to the group. But even around the people he knew, he couldn't say he knew himself. He felt scared.

 _Scared and alone._


	19. Getting Back

_**Chapter 18:** **Getting Back**_

* * *

"Thank you for getting me out but I can't believe her! I was this close!" Periwinkle whined, clinging onto the robotic figure who sat next to her.

"Don't be so sad, boss." Yin exclaimed as she pried the child off of Kuro. "Kuro retrieved the stone, right?"

Kuro nodded, bringing the small stone out of his pockets and showing it to Periwinkle. Her reaction was a dull stare at first before exploding into curiosity. She snatched the red stone out of his fingers and set to admiring it on the side. As soon as she stepped away, Yin walked over to him and peered at his metal fingers.

"What happened? Was that boy strong enough to take off the top layer?" Yin asked.

"He burned it." Kuro replied, staring at her with his blank eyes.

"More detail would be helpful!" A loud, booming voice yelled from the entrance of the cave. Yin and Kuro turned to face Cain, watching as he shifted two bodies from his shoulders onto the floor. "Also, I think you might want to see this."

A loud gasp was heard as Yin spotted her twin, barely conscious. Her breathing was laboured and every once in a while, she would cough out ash. The burn marks were disgustingly pink and covered so much exposed skin. A prominent scar making a horizontal line across her cheeks and nose. The blue haired woman rushed over and sat next to her, ghosting her hand across the mark and making Yang hiss and flinch.

Steele was no better, if anything, he was worse. Blood covered his entire torso, seeping from a gaping wound in his side. Several slice marks marred his arms and dangerously close to his neck. His trench coat had been reduced to mere rags and he looked dead, if not for the weak breaths and even weaker heartbeat. Words were even carved into his arms in surprisingly clean strokes. 'Watch out' and 'Akeno' were the ones that could be read.

Before Periwinkle could go to see what caused the disgusted response of Cain and the horrified response of Yin, cold hands had clamped around her eyes and moved her away.

"Boss, we need to go back. Steele and Yang are severely injured." Kuro instructed, eyes narrowed as he gave the magical book to her.

"How badly?" Periwinkle whispered, voice trembling at his tone.

"You don't want to know." The girl did as instructed and opened her tome. She flipped through the pages before placing a palm on the ground. As she did a large magic circle lit up in bright blue, illuminating the cave. Gravity seemed to be nullify as the people began to float upwards. Periwinkle was thankful that she didn't feel the enormous drain when she was so panicked. Briefly, she realized how smart it was of Steele to tell her to create a teleportation circle beforehand so she didn't have to deal with it later.

"Teleport: Screaming Banshee!"

* * *

Xavier had come up to the group as Antoine had finished diagnosing Kichirou. He noticed that the blond wasn't smiling goofily or charmingly. In fact, there was no trace of humour on his face as he moved near them. Xavier walked silently behind him, staring blankly at the people with him.

"Thank you, Antoine!" Daria had ran to hug Antoine, causing him to pat her head before pushing her off and walking to Akeno. After a hushed conversation, he put Kichirou onto his back so Akeno could focus on supporting Chris. He immediately stalked off. "Antoine? What's wrong?"

"Daria." Was all Akeno said to shut Daria up. Daria went silent before gazing at the man walking off to the direction he came from. "Leave him alone for now. He gets like that sometimes."

Akeno briskly followed Antoine as Daria watched quietly. Shrugging it off, she put on her signature smile and followed the adults. Xavier reached out to stop her to talk but quickly decided against it.

* * *

The ride back on the train was more than uncomfortable for her. Daria had never felt more confused. Or for as much as she remembered. Akeno and Chris had been the only normal ones and had been willingly chatting with her and chatting amongst themselves. Antoine had just stared blankly at his hands while the redhead had stared out the window, occasionally sending her glances before looking back. Kichirou lay asleep on her lap, wrapped up in a warm blanket.

"Oh shut up, Chris." Akeno stated bluntly, causing the male to puff up his chest arrogantly.

"I am not lying though! Before you saw me on the ground... dying and stuff... I was totally kicking ass!" Chris exclaimed, golden eyes sparkling in energy before he flinched inward from stretching out too much. "Ow..."

"You idiot." Akeno said, suppressing a chuckle. "We barely managed to fix up your chest. When we get back, you can get some proper treatment. Hopefully the herbs will not have run out."

"Don't worry, Chris! I've been learning about medical stuff so I can do all the healing." Daria grinned, pointing at herself.

"I think I'll be better healing naturally." Chris deadpanned, making Daria gape and Akeno make a weird mixed expression of offense and amusement.

"Hey!"

"Daria." At the strange voice, Daria turned to its owner, blinking in surprise at the young man with startlingly blue eyes. He pushed up his glasses with a finger before gesturing at the boy in her lap. "You'll wake him up."

As if on cue, Kichirou rolled over with a groan. Daria winced and nodded, choosing to silently stroke her best friends' hair. The redhead nodded in approval before going back to staring blankly out the window. There was a brief silence before, as if to fill the emptiness, Chris provoked the purple haired female, causing her to growl at him. Another banter started, relaxing the tense atmosphere.

* * *

"Akeno!" Marcus was out of the door before they had even finished climbing up the hill. "Oh my god, what happened to him?! Why did that take so long? I hope you are ready to finish that paperwork that piled up while you were gone because I went to go buy some stuff and since both of us were gone, Nene decided to have a drink off an-"

"Be quiet, Marc." The brunette bristled angrily, ready to shout even more before he took a good look at Antoine, suddenly calming down and regaining his composure.

"Did Daria remember? And is he talking?" He had been informed of the situation (minus details) before they left for the train so that when they returned he wouldn't have a super freak-out.

Akeno shook her head. Marcus nodded.

"Daria... I want to ask a couple questions."

* * *

Xavier had been left with the task of getting his friend to the infirmary before Dr Mari came round to check on him. He didn't see the point, considering they had met a doctor before boarding the train so he didn't get why another visit was needed.

Xavier was startled to find out that Antoine seemed to be dealing just as bad as he was, but he didn't seem frightened or uncertain. He just seemed angry. Incredibly angry. The man had entrusted Kichirou to Xavier before storming off, surprising quite a few members.

Daria and Akeno had been ushered into the office where Akeno worked with Marcus and Sayri on their papers. Marcus and Akeno were worried and hopeful respectfully, both giving Daria a strange look. Daria looked surprised, sort of scared even.

Chris had come with Xavier to get some powder that eases pain but the moment he heard that Dr Mari was coming, he had suddenly gone all awkward before bolting. It was extremely odd.

Kichirou had woken up multiple times after Antoine had diagnosed him with hypothermia. Each time, however, he would just give this half lidded look, not remember anything that was just said to him and then just fall asleep. Well, the doctor _did_ say fatigue and confusion were common results of hypothermia.

He was startled out of his musing by a sharp knock. Before he could answer, the door was slammed open and a woman strode in. She stood next to him, coming just under his nose in height. Her gold coloured eyes gave him a quick onceover before she turned back to Kichirou, scribbling on her clipboard.

"This is the patient? Honestly, he gets hurt way too much." She spoke in such a deep voice that Xavier was stunned into silence. It was deep in masculine way but had a feminine tone. For a second, he had started to question if she was a woman. But then again, just a deep voice and rectangular figure wasn't enough proof for that. After a brief silence, she turned to face the male fully, a harsh glare in her yellow eyes. "And you are?"

"X-Xavier Reed." He spoke quickly.

"Why are you here?"

"I had to make sure he was okay, ma'am!" He panicked, yelling randomly as if he was in the military. She sounded like an army leader with the way she held authority in her voice.

There was a much longer, _more_ _awkward_ , silence after that. She gave him such a disbelieving look that he started to question his own motives. Slowly she put down her clipboard on the side of the infirmary bed and face palmed.

"Ma'am? Does _everyone_ think I'm a woman?" Suddenly, the silence was broken by these words.

"Eh?"

"Everyone here calls me a woman when they first meet me! It makes me want to just harvest their tongues..." _'She'_ growled. "Let me guess... You thought I was a woman because of my name? It's not Mari! It's Mario!"

Xavier looked Mario over. _'Yeah the name... Totally not the floor length curly pink hair, the feminine face, the perfectly manicured nails, the mood swing just now and the girly body language. Totally just the name.'_

"Why do they call you Mari, then?" Xavier asked, trying to console the raging _man_.

"Because nobody believes I'm a guy so they call me Mari instead. That shitty blond kid, Chris, started it and next thing I know, even cousin Sayri says it! She **KNOWS** I'm a man!" Mario screamed, causing Kichirou to shift and start waking up. "Shit."

Xavier watched in horror as the man magically (As in with magic (from his index finger)) filled a vial with a semi-transparent yellow liquid, before stabbing it into Kichirou's inner elbow, causing the boy to yelp before dropping like a stone.

"Did you jus-" He glared, cutting Xavier off.

"I drugged him. Yes." Mario sighed before picking up a small box. He reached in and brought out two tiny lenses before plopping them onto his eyes. "I know you saw a doctor already so I'm just checking for anything magical that might be damaging him or his system. His hypothermia was treated, correct?"

"Yes, ma'am! I mean, sir!" He corrected once he heard Mario click his tongue and glance warily at him. Those contacts gave his eyes a terrifying glow.

"No poisons or curses, just a residing bit of... light? Yes, light or heat magic on the burn wound." With that, he placed a palm on the burn, pouring fully transparent liquid on the burn in a soothing stream. "I can't remove magic residue but I can soothe any pain he might be feeling. It should be numb for a couple days."

Xavier nodded before moving to the door to leave. Suddenly he froze, a sharp glare was pressed against his back, stopping him. He slowly turned to see the doctor holding a needle up and smiling terrifyingly. Mario began to approach him.

"Why not have a check-up?" He gently shook his head, trying to avoid the needle at all costs. It was the same liquid that seemed to have (painfully?) knocked Kichirou out. "I have the time! I can examine your eyes, maybe remove a fingernail or two. I assure you it _will_ hurt but, you ould know you're furthering the advance of medici-"

"Sorry!" Xavier yelled, elbowing Mario right in the nose, causing him to go stumbling back and cradling his bloody nose. Xavier dashed out, slamming the door and sprinting.

So that's why Chris ran away...

* * *

He got home. He sat down. He read a book.

He didn't think about his fear. Or his issues.

He had to just think positive. He always did.

He didn't want to be confused or frightened. So he wasn't.

He just put it away and locked the event away.

He never needed to face his problems, so why start now?

He just had to stay positive. Maybe he'll go back to normal.

* * *

"Do you really think it will work?" Akeno asked, watching as Dr Mari's assistant, Lucius Rol, rubbed a strange oil onto Daria's face, an eerie blue glow emitting from his fingers. The look Marcus sent her was full of only doubt.

"No. But we can try," He began, "Even if she can't remember there's nothing too major she forgot, right? How far back?"

"About a month."

At her response he gave a low hum, focusing his blue eyes back on the purifying ritual. Lucius took a deep breath, putting his hands together in a prayer position. There was a bright light before he came over to where Marcus and Akeno sat. His red eyes weren't encouraging at all, instead, they were blank and angry-looking as usual. He stuck his hand out which was quickly filled with money from Marcus.

"I tried my best. She'll be asleep for a while so you should find out if it worked tomorrow." And he stalked out. The loud yelp of Dr Mari could be heard as he was dragged out by his young, white haired assistant.


	20. Are You Okay?

_**A/N:**_ _ **I can't believe I already have 19 chapters of this story. I honestly thought nobody would read this and I would stop by chapter ten but look at this story now. I want to say thank you to everyone who has read this far and it really does mean a lot to me. Without further ado...**_

 **Chapter 19:** **Are you okay?**

He opened his eyes, shooting into a sitting position as he placed a hand to his heart. He was breathing. His heart was beating. He wasn't dead. He was sitting in his bed, staring at the wall as if he had never noticed it was there. Blinking rapidly and rubbing at his eyes, he turned to look out the window and realized it must be early morning. The sky was dark and there was a calm, calm wind.

His eyes drifted to the door when he heard a knock. On weak legs, he stumbled over to the door and unlocked it. The door opened to reveal a blurry figure, a person wearing blue pajamas and with brown hair. He rubbed at his eyes.

"Xavier?" That was Kichirou's voice. Absolutely. "Are you okay?"

Xavier noticed he was sweating. The liquid made his messy hair stick to his forehead. He wiped it away. "I'm fine, Kirou."

"I heard you screaming." His blue eyes widened as his friend forced his way into the room. Kichirou quickly retrieved the glasses from beside the bed and handed them to Xavier.

"You did? I was screa-" He stopped when he saw Kichirou nodding. The green eyed boy gave him a searching glance, making Xavier feel even more uncomfortable. "I just had a nightmare, that's all."

The brunet looked almost disbelieving for a second but the expression changed to a comforting smile so quick, he thought he imagined it. Kichirou's eyes darted around the room, observing it for the first time. He stopped and walking over to the desk. "What happened?"

"I was surrounded by fire, burning. My side felt like I had been stabbed by a red hot knife..." His voice started to tremble, the fear he had experienced flooding his system. "Something had smashed my head, I couldn't see a thing and then-"

"Stop. Don't talk about it if you don't want to." Kichirou placed something back onto the desk before turning to the door. "Hope you feel better soon, try to get some sleep." Xavier watched the smile disappear as his friend left and shut the door, leaving him alone with his thoughts. He picked up a necklace from his desk, holding the ruby close to his chest for comfort. He needed to abandon the negatives like always.

Why couldn't he?

* * *

Kichirou was thoroughly surprised when he saw Xavier walk into the guild with a cheerful smile on his face. He had bags under his eyes but just complained that he stayed up all night. Xavier caught his stare and shrugged, eyes sheepish.

"Xav-" He stopped, watching instead as the redhead walked up to the bar for a drink. "Honestly..."

"Oh, Xavier it's good that you're feeling better!" Chris yelled, patting the redhead on the back enthusiastically. Bandages peeked out from the neck of his white t-shirt, his jacket lying on the counter top. "You seemed really stressed on the mission, what happened?"

"I'd rather not talk about it..." Xavier mumbled. Chris sensed the mood around him darken and blinked in surprise. He opened his mouth to speak but was cut off when his face was pushed into the counter.

"Shut the-" Fukuro raised a hand to cover his yawn but it looked useless considering the mask already covered his mouth. "Up. I was sleeping."

Xavier looked at the man with the gold cat-like eyes. If he remembered correctly, Fukuro took Akeno to the infirmary after the fight. Fukuro looked at him, as if suddenly realizing he existed.

"Oh it's you... um... what's your name again?" Xavier winced, he was sure he had been there long enough for people to know him.

"Xavier Reed. You're Fukuro, right?"

"No. I'm Penelope." He replied. Xavier was not amused. Sarcasm, really? Chris was laughing, but Fukuro's hand kept his face pressed into the wood.

"Nice to meet you Penelope." Xavier said, making both parties roll their eyes at the same time. There was a scoff as the sound of boots clicking against the ground grew louder. He turned to see a girl look at him, yellow eyes curious.

"That was probably the weirdest thing I've ever seen." She said, flicking her black and purple fishtail braid over her shoulder. Fukuro glanced at her before looking dazedly at the wall with his head lying on his arms.

"Hey Kiki." Chris greeted, head freed from the awkward position. The girl pouted adorably, leaning onto Chris. He looked a little puzzled but was generally unfazed by her action. Xavier's mind was racing, Chris had a girlfriend?

"Chris~" She said in a sing-song voice. "Could I borrow some money? I wanted to get my nails done with Midnight Sky instead of Neptune's Kiss. I think the darker blue looks better."

The moment he looked skeptical, she pushed her chest against his, fluttering her lashes. Chris made an uncomfortable expression, trying to lean back as she leaned closer. Eventually he sighed in resignation.

"Fine, fine! Just get off me!" He said, causing her to stand back upright with a smirk. He handed her the money, face tinted pink. She grabbed it and waved before walking out the guild hall, most likely to get her nail colour changed immediately.

"May I ask what that was?" Xavier muttered, confusion displayed on his face like a glowing light. "Is she like your girlfriend or something?" He wasn't really sure anymore.

Chris snorted, shaking his head furiously. "No, no. Kirara just does that when she wants something cause she knows I find it uncomfortable. She has ways to do that to lots of people."

"Hm. Good to know." Looking past the blond, Xavier noticed that Fukuro was asleep, breath so soft, he almost didn't hear it. He shook his head. Xavier stopped his judging of the guild members when Maia walked in front of the duo. She tilted her head, asking the question without words.

"Just water for me." Chris said, waving his hand dismissively.

"I wanted to try White Roses, Daria's theme." Maia nodded, sliding the cup of water to Chris before disappearing off to prepare the milkshake.

* * *

Ever since the group came back from the mission, everyone was worried about the S-Class's odd behavior. Apparently, it had happened before a few times, Antoine would suddenly get all angry and violent before disappearing for a while. No one was really sure, well, no one other than the two original Phoenix Wing mages and his sister. They were all tight lipped about it though.

So, when the mage came running into the guild the next day, Angelique by his side and a list in his hands, people were surprised. He leapt over the bar, hands picking out bottles from the stash and setting them on the table. He had stopped dragging Angelique when he jumped over, allowing the girl to calmly walk around and take out the mixing bottle and a measuring jug.

"Antoine? Angie?" Kichirou asked, sitting up at the bar with Xavier and Sandra. Angelique stopped, looking up at Xavier strangely for a few seconds before suddenly lighting up.

"Kichirou. New guy?" The redhead immediately deflated, causing her to scoff. "I really don't know who you are."

"Really?" At Kichirou's question she scrunched her nose up in confusion.

"Well..." She leaned forwards onto the bar, looking up in thought. "I know you, but at the same time I don't. Like, I know you're the new guy. Xylophone, right? But it's like I don't really care much about someone who seems so lame."

Great offense was taken when he heard her comment. He didn't want to accept that anyone could make such a bad guess with his name and insult him without ever meeting him but, Xavier just sighed in resignation instead before diverting his gaze to the blond man who was mixing the drinks flamboyantly. The moment Antoine caught Xavier's amazed gaze, he had stopped and placed the bottles down on the counter. A small smile appeared on his face.

"Hey. How've you been? You didn't seem that well when we got back." Xavier's sudden grimace was obvious, causing the three mages next to him to give him strange looks.

"I am absolutely fine. I was just tired." The green eyed gaze felt like it was piercing into his soul. He glanced at Kichirou briefly. "What about you? You just storm-"

"Well that's the past! I was wondering if you would like to help me out with something." Antoine interrupted smiling wider. A shiver went down the redhead's back.

"I don't know... Last time we helped you, I ended up being dog piled. I had to stay in the infirmary for a couple days." Kichirou muttered. His eyes dimmed, as if all happiness was sapped out of his body. "Dr Mari was threatening me the whole time..."

"Hey, this time it won't be anything hard, I promise. I just need some help carrying some stuff with me to the hospital."

"Hospital?" The seventeen year old raised an eyebrow, confused as to why Antoine would be going there. "Why?"

"I need to visit Rae." He said blankly to Xavier in response as if it was the easiest question in the world. "There's also a guy who I need to speak to."

Before Xavier could probe more, the older man nodded enthusiastically, acting as if he had volunteered. Kichirou immediately agreed at that and Sandra, who had been unusually quiet, decided to tag along too. Antoine grinned, pouring his alcoholic mixture into a bottle and placing it inside a bag with two glasses.

* * *

"Rae!" As the man had come bursting into the hospital room, Xavier wondered if shouting was the thing Antoine should do in the situation. The orange haired woman had given a startled squeak as he sat next to her, reaching to hold her hand in his own.

"Antoine, don't yell. This is a hospital." She lightly scolded, patting his head with her one good arm, the other resting heavily against her chest in a thick cast that matched the one on her leg.

"I'm so glad you're okay. I don't know what I would do without you." His voice was surprisingly weak and shaky as he grabbed and squeezed her hand.

"It wasn't too bad." Although Antoine couldn't see her expression since he was looking down, Rae's wince was easily noticeable to the three teens as she glanced at the hand he was crushing. "You worry way too much about everything. And you're kind of killing my only good arm."

Antoine flinched, dropping her hand with an embarrassed chuckle. Honestly, from where he stood, it looked as if the two lovers were used to this, which seemed a little worrying considering he was squeezing the life out of her hand. _Did he always get so worried he couldn't control himself?_ Xavier was snapped out of his thoughts by a sharp shove, making him almost drop the huge present in his hands.

"Crap, Sandra! What the heck?" Xavier yelled. The white haired girl snickered before walking towards the hospital bed where Kichirou now stood, setting up the large arrangements of flowers. The redhead quickly followed.

"Thanks guys." Out of nowhere, Antoine pulled out the glasses and poured the pink drink inside before handing Rae a glass. "I know you like to take a nice drink when stressed so I made you the cocktail."

" _The_ cocktail?"

"Remember, I made it for our last anniversary." Suddenly, at Antoine's words, Rae's face lit up with realization. A grin made its way onto her face as she tried to hold in her laughter.

"The one you spilled on Marcus?" After Antoine nodded, they both broke into laughter. "That was so crazy. I remember how red his face went, and he stared chasing you around for ruining his suit! I heard he gets angry but I never would have thought it would be that extreme."

The moment Xavier said his next words, he regretted it. "How did you break your arm, anyway?" The happy and light atmosphere seemed to flip instantly as the blond's red eyes darkened.

"Well, I had been going out to get these... flowers? When I got attacked by some guy. I'm not sure why he got violent so quickly, but he did look kind of scared. I tried to fight back and I injured him but I also got hurt. Luckily, someone found us unconscious and helped us out."

"I just remembered something I have to do. I'll be right back." Before the seventeen year old could comprehend the situation, Antoine had walked out of the room. Kichirou furrowed his eyebrows, turning to Rae who just shrugged.

The silence was quickly broken by Rae who smiled and asked to see what was in the present box.

* * *

"Is this Isaiah's room?" Antoine asked, watching the terrified nurse nod skittishly before scurrying off. Ignoring her fearful gazes back at him, he knocked on the door, earning a grunt in response. The door slammed open and the man strode inside. His red eyes landed on the man who sat on the edge of his bed, looking out the window and adjusting the bandage wrapped around his head

Grey eyes glanced up at him, a snarl forming on Isaiah's lips. "I never said come-" He shut up as the fist clenched his collar, lifting him so he was on his tip-toes to look the tall stranger in the eye.

"Now you fucking listen." Antoine's voice was deep, guttural. More growl than speech. "I deal with a lot of shit and now I can't take it. If you don't want me to rip your throat out so you can't ever speak, give me answers."

* * *

"How did you two start dating, anyway?" Sandra asked, pouting in thought, watching the orange haired girl squeeze her new huge teddy bear gift. "Antoine used to be such the playboy."

"Well, I was collecting mushrooms. So was he. From there, we soon turned into cooking buddies. At first, I had the biggest crush on him - which is understandable, have you ever seen this man?- but then I got friendzoned real hard. After that, I had moved on and we started seeing different people and then the friendship sort of ended. Then, you won't believe this, but around a year later, we met again at the same place where we first met and both of us had a really cute, cliche moment where our hands touched while reaching for the same mushroom. Turns out he had been thinking of me and then, it was like, perfect moment. He asked to be my girlfriend. I said why not. That's a summary of course, if you want the long detailed version, Antoine can pretty much say every detail."

"Wow." Kichirou mumbled.

"But that's only the first time. There was some bullying from some fans, as if we were school girls. Eventually, we broke up after I saw him kissing some random fan girl. Turns out it was a misunderstanding and the girl had actually planned to get rid of me like that. You know, scaring me off. Antoine had apparently gotten really scary for a while and said that if any fan girl hurt me or tried to pull that, there would be a serious problem. Then, during a party, he had gone in front of everyone. He got down on one knee, there were fireworks and everything, and he pulled out a box. I was all _'is he actually going to propose to that girl?'_ and then he pulls out a necklace and says, "Rae, please, will you come back to me? Will you be my girlfriend?" And of course I did. Then, we started dating until now."

It was clear from Sandra's face that she was amazed. "You guys are such relationship goals. Haven't you ever been worried about him actually cheating? I mean, that kiss scene feels sort of scarring."

"Nope. Well, at first... But I got over it. The fangirls are still trying to get between us sometimes but never badly enough to hurt me, emotionally or physically." Rae said, thinking back with a small smile.

"How did he react? To the whole break up thing." Kichirou asked. The redhead next to him looked confused before remembering that Kichirou had been here for only two years, so they must have already been dating when he joined.

"I remember that time. He was crazy." Sandra said. At the probing looks, she elaborated. "He was so violent when angry and he was loner. But then, he started plotting to get her back and started involving the guild. It was terrifyingly beautiful! Antoi-"

"Are you talking about me? I know I'm handsome but I don't need more fans." Antoine slid back into the chair as if he never left moodily. "What are we talking about?"

"We were talking about-"

"This great teddy bear! It's so cute." Rae's interruption of Xavier's words was smooth. So smooth, it didn't feel interrupted at all. "Where were you?"

"Me? I just was talking to the doctor to see when you could get out." Antoine replied, not realizing anything wrong with the conversation.

"You should have just asked. It's not broken, just sprained, I think? I should be out in 2 days. Meaning, I should expect you to do something crazy in 2 days." Rae giggled and Antoine chuckled. The blond turned to thank the three for helping.

"Thanks for helping me out with the stuff. I might have weak requip but I can't carry much in the pocket space at once so you guys were a big help." Antoine shooed them away.

"Requip now too? Antoine, weren't you focusing on the family fire magic?" The couple's voices faded away as Sandra, Kichirou and Xavier walked off.

"I was! I'm learning with Angie, but then I wanted to carry stuff. Vibration magic and fire magic aren't very good for carrying things."

"Oh, sure. Honestly, it's like you show off that I can't learn magic."

"Rae, that's not true... Wait, no! Don't you dare rip the eye o- **THE BEAR! NOOOOO!** Where will I find a matching eyepatch?!"

"Mwahaha! That will teach you to mock- Don't tickle me! I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

* * *

 ** _A/N: I just wanted to say that I have gotten my first piece of artwork done for the story! I might not be the best artist and it was my first time turning a traditional drawing into a digital one, but I'm proud of it. It's a picture of Xavier, Kichirou and Daria and it will be on my new deviantart! If the link doesn't work, I'll leave a link on my profile to my deviantart page. _****_art/Main-Crew4-684442232_**

 ** _Thanks again for reading._**

 ** _SHAMELESS ADVERTISING CORNER!: If you like Katekyo Hitman Reborn, please read my fanfics about it: Rantings of a Teenage Mafioso and Even Though My Name Is Tsunayoshi, I'm Still a Girl! If you don't know the show, go watch/read it! Thanks._**

 _ **Bye!**_


	21. A Younger View On Life Pt 1

_**Chapter 20:**_ _ **A Younger View On Life pt. 1**_

Now, Orion thought that he was generally a nice kid. He didn't talk much to some of the other kids in the town, since he was too shy, and he was especially nervous around the big personalities of the guild members. However, he did always try and help out whenever someone needed help. He never said any curses, like the tall blonde girl. He didn't prank members, like the shorter pink haired girl. He wasn't bluntly honest, like the girl with huge glasses. And he definitely wasn't as mean to people as the brown haired boy and his blonde friend tended to seem.

Speaking of the brown haired kid, "'EY! What are 'ya doing?!" Orion yelled as the other boy lifted his sandals into the air. His purple eyes studied them carefully.

"What does it look like?" Was the snarky response back before the boy looked back at Orion. "These are really worn out. Why don't you buy new ones?"

Orion didn't answer, instead he just reached for the shoes which were quickly moved out of reach by the tall blonde girl. She sneered, face twisting in disgust. "See, Luke? I told you he wore ugly shoes."

"They ain't ugly! Say that again, I dare' ya." He growled. Luke suddenly looked apprehensive, as if he regretted his actions.

"Am I meant to be threatened? Your sandals are absolutely hideous. Buy better ones." The blonde stated, pink eyes almost glowing with annoyance. As if they were useless, she threw the sandals behind her. "Don't look scared, Luke. He's almost five years younger."

She was about to say more but was cut off when Orion tackled her to the ground, gripping her leather vest's collar. They began rolling on the ground, trying to overpower each other through pure physical strength. The brunet had been yelling her name in panic as Orion aimed a punch at her. She moved her head to the side, narrowly missing his fist.

"I'm going to kill 'ya, I swear it! You touched my sandals!" He tried to punch her again. She quickly grabbed him and threw him off her, getting up from the dirt.

"What's so special about those-"

"Luke! Angelique!" The voice yelled loudly. Luke looked back but Angelique ignored the other girl and got into a boxing stance. Suddenly, a rock nailed her in the head, causing the blonde to shriek angrily and turn to the offender.

"Maiko, what the hell do you want?!" The pink haired girl kept her slingshot up defensively but approached the other kids. Her glare was smoldering and filled with a burning hatred. Orion was used to her being mischievous, not looking like her blue eyes could kill. Angelique's angry fighting look turned to dull irritation.

"Stop picking on him." Was the answer. "I'm not afraid to shoot."

"Same here." Angelique said, fire dancing along her palm. However, with a sigh, she strode off. "He started the fight, I just tried to save him from a fashion crisis."

Luke made to go calm his other friend down but was stopped by his best friend. Maiko looked him in the eye. "I'm telling you, she's a bad influence."

"Maiko, chill. She's just trying to help out. She isn't a bully anymore." He chased after Angelique. Maiko snorted, mocking his words as she walked over to Orion.

"Are you okay?" Orion nodded, making her try to smile but, it came out as a grimace. "Sorry about her. Angelique gets on my nerves too."

The boy quickly ran past to slip his sandals on again. "It's not y-your fault. I-I'm Orion."

"Maiko Vols. Hey... I see you around the guild a lot, how come we've never talked?" She asked. His face went red.

"I-I'm a little shy. You a-always prank people so I thought y-you'd be mean."

"Pssh, nonsense! They're all in good fun! Want to go see one up close? I got a big one planned." Maiko's eyes glittered with mischief, just like usual. He felt more comfortable with her devilish smile rather than when she looked terrifyingly angry like before.

"Don't you do those with Luke?" He asked.

"I do but that loser decided to hang out with little miss Blondie rather than us cool guys. Like, come on!" He almost wanted to laugh at her exasperated yell. "Anyway, let's go."

"O-Okay!

...

"Before we start, let me tell you the biggest rules I follow when pranking. Rule one, check your victim's state of mind. If your victim has been having a bad day, don't pull the prank if it's nasty. We might be pranksters, but we aren't evil. Rule two, think big. If your victim isn't too unhappy or whatever, try do something extravagant. It's more fun that way."

"Didn't you only pull a hand buzzer for the new guy?" Orion asked, causing Maiko to stiffen and frown.

"Maybe. I used a basic because I didn't know him but I needed to prove my authority! He's a wimp so I think it scared him enough anyway. Don't worry my disciple, this is a big one." Maiko said, quickly ducking back behind the beer barrel where they hid.

"D-Disciple?"

"Rule three, watch out for my aunt. She will kill us." Was the next rule out of her mouth.

"Really? We don't need to freak out, though. Isn't she still in Magnolia after the meeting?"

"So rule three may be ignored for the time being. Rule four, the most important rule which shall be demonstrated in this prank, timing is key. Rule five, the prank must fit to the victim like two matching pieces."

"What does that mean?" He asked, not comprehending her final rules. He wasn't sure if it was because of her advanced thinking (She was four years older than the seven year old), or that she just didn't seem to make much sense.

"You'll see. Just stay here a watch." The girl moved away from their hiding place. Moving near the doors, she gripped her arm, wincing like she was in pain. Kichirou walked in, instantly noting the small girl's pained expression.

"Are you okay, Maiko?" He asked, reaching out to touch her.

"I cut my wrist. Can you get me some bandages from the infirmary." He looked anxious. "Dr Mari isn't here. She's at the hospital."

"He's. He's at the hospital." Kichirou corrected, a shudder going down his spine. "Sure, just wait a second."

As the brunet walked towards the infirmary, a grin blossomed on her face. She pulled a remote out from her dress. Just as Kichirou stepped on a slight misplaced plank of wood, she pressed the button. The mechanism activated and he was suddenly flung into the air by a huge spring under the floor. As if just on time, Cammy walked out from the infirmary, wrapping her forearm in white bandage. A loud **thump** echoed around the room.

"What the fu- hell?!" Cammy was just able to stop herself from cussing in front of everyone. She looked down just as Kichirou hefted himself up and supported his weight with his elbows. He looked up from where his nose was pressed into her black wife-beater shirt. It took a few seconds for them to both understand the position they were in, faces going red for entirely different reasons.

"Uh, C-C-Cammy! I-I swear this was an accident! I was walking to g-g-get stuff for M-Maiko and next thing I know, I was off the g-ground and Ididn'tmeantogropeyouorlandinyour... um... chest area?" Kichirou cried, rushing so fast through his last sentence that it was hard to understand his flow of words. He looked like he was about to die of embarrassment with how red his face was.

"Kichirou..." She growled, face red with anger. Said boy, immediately jumped up, backing away from the dangerous woman. She clenched her fist, ice swirling around her as she bared her fangs in an animalistic way. He visibly gulped. "I'm going to kill you!"

"No!" He turned and ran out the guild. The whole way out, he yelled a mantra of, "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

...

As Maiko approached the boy who lay on the ground, twitching from fading laughter, she giggled like a deranged schoolgirl. Orion took deep breaths, allowing the older girl to lift him up so he was standing upright.

"How did you do that so perfectly?" He asked, watching the pride smile fill her face.

"Two things, I'm a genius and rule four, timing is key."

...

"Hello? Earth to Luke?" Angelique's voice pierced his thoughts, causing the boy to yelp in surprise. In response, she glared, heat radiating off her like a bad stove. "As I was saying, Maiko is so... ugh! I'm almost 13. Why does a puny 11 year old who can't even do magic think she can stand up to me?"

"She is kinda small but she isn't puny..." His defense for her was weak at best.

"I think she is! Her aunt is crazy powerful, right? How come she can't even make a spark? Not even a hint of magic in her body! I think that makes her weak."

Seeing the blonde explode like that immediately triggered memories in the boy. Memories of her, that weren't so good. "Okay, Angie, that's enough! Maiko is still my best friend, she isn't weak and for standing up to a bully like you who is older than her, she is way stronger than a lot of people."

"Are you really going there?" Suddenly, the girl's expression turned from a slightly angered one to a sneer. "I didn't do anything wrong! Why am I always painted as the bully?"

"Because you _were_ the bully." Luke muttered.

"Don't tell me you guy are still... I apologized, didn't I? I won't-" Before Angelique could finish talking, Luke exhaled deeply before turning and walking off. She reached out. "Hey, Luke! Wait!"

...

"W-W-Wait, no. Maiko you don't have to!" Orion cried, trying to resist the force of the girl pushing him forwards.

"Yes I do! I'll take you to meet some of my friends. They are a bit older than you but they're nice! Maybe Lavanda will be there too. She can tell you lots of things, she reads lots of books." Maiko said, twisting in front of him so she could pull instead of push him along. He stumbled forwards as she suddenly began running, waving at a small group of kids. "Guys!"

"Hey Maiko! Who's that?" The leader of their group, Kerriuke, yelled, shifting the football under his arm.

"This is my friend, Oreo."

"Don't call me that!" The seven year old squealed, disgusted at the thought of the treats. Of course, the girl ignored him and did a really cool handshake with each of the other six kids.

"Nice to meet you Oreo. I'm Kerriuke but everyone calls me Kerri for short." Kerriuke said, a grin on his tan face. His tan was similar than Orion's, making him blink in surprise. His flame orange hair was in a mess with twigs and leaves stuck in it, almost as if he had just fallen out of a tree.

"My name's Orion, tree-hair." As if suddenly realized what he had said to the other boy, Orion's eyes widened. "Um.. I-I mean..."

"Wow, fiesty. I like that!" A girl said, ruffling his brown hair and turning it into an absolute mess. He didn't want to look like Kerriuke!

"N-No it was an accident." He mumbled, causing the children to laugh.

"Wow! You're eyes are green?" A small girl said, a large grin on her round face. She looked no older than 4 or 5, which amazed him. Maiko made loud 'hah?' sounding noise, looking down at the girl.

"Perriana, you've never seen green eyes?" She asked. The child nodded, but blushed in embarrassment.

"Both Perri and big brother Kerri has dark, dark brown. You has blue, Ama and Mia has grey, Jack, Jamie and Joseph has light brown, Angie has pink, Lav and Luke has purple and Ming has black." Perriana said, pointing at each of the people who were there as she said their names. Orion wanted to wince at her words. First talking about herself in third person and then the grammar.

"You mean, _have_? They _have_ light brown eyes, Perri." Lavanda said, stepping forwards and patting the girl on the head. "Don't be so stupid."

Kerriuke glared at the older girl, causing her to squeak in surprise. "She isn't stupid, Lavanda, she's 4."

"But I could use proper grammar at 4." She responded, not understanding why he seemed mad.

"Well you were-"

"Guys, let's not fight now. Are we still on for football?" Maiko interrupted, stopping the argument before it could escalate. Lavanda went quiet, stepping back on her laced flats and pushing up her glasses. He could see Kerriuke simmering in anger as he nodded.

"I'm not going to play today." There was a loud collective whine from the three Vera siblings.

"But Lavanda... If you do that, we won't have even numbers. We're already missing Ming and Angie and Ama and Mia and Luke." Joseph whined, causing the two other triplets to nod in support, although Jamie looked more apathetic compared to his brothers.

"It's not my fault they didn't come. Besides, I'm wearing a skirt today. If I had my trousers I would have joined in." She explained, causing Joseph and Jack to deflate. Jamie patted their backs in a lame effort to cheer them up.

"Lav, I have a dress and I'm playing!" Maiko said. Immediately, Kerri popped back into the conversation.

"Yeah, Maiko's playing! She doesn't care if we see her panties, because she's tough, like a man!" That immediately sent the triplets into giggles while Maiko covered her face so nobody would see the horrifying shade of red she had turned. Lavanda just nodded as if he had proved her point and sat down on a box.

"I'll ref." She stated, bringing out a book and pulling out a red card and a yellow card which she placed in her lap.

"Since Ming's not here, Perri'll help Lav referee!" Perriana sat by Lavanda's box. The children nodded, accepting her decision.

"Me and Maiko are captains, as usual. I'll start with Joseph!" Kerriuke shouted, pointing at the green haired boy. Joseph cheered, moving to Kerriuke's side.

"That's your mistake, Kerri! You picked the shortest triplet!" Maiko exclaimed, laughing obnoxiously.

"I'm not short!"

"Sorry Jo. I'll go with-" Maiko was cut off as she heard the voice behind her.

"Luke." He said, moving in next to Maiko. She turned, a smile on her face before she hugged him and squealed girlishly. "I came to play because Angie was being a jerk about you."

"Imma let them have their moment. So... Jack!" The boy skipped over, high fiving his brother. Maiko let go of Luke, seeing the two boys left.

"Between Oreo-"

"Orion!" He yelled.

"And Jamie, I'll go with the Oreo." Orion didn't budge. "Fine, Orion." Pleased with the words, Orion moved to her team, giving Luke an apprehensive look.

"Mr. James, come to my team." Kerri stated, finishing the choosing of teams.

"Why am I always picked last?" Jamie pouted, although he didn't actually seem that bothered by it.

"Because you're lazy." Was the collective response of all the kids. Other than Orion, of course. He didn't know them well yet.

Maiko counted the numbers, frowning when she saw the sides. She frowned, giving Kerri the stink eye. "Your team has one more person than mine."

"Well, Perri don't wanna play without her best friend, Ming. I guess the team's will be in my favor today! Come on Vera's, to the pitch."

"Hold on!" Another voice shouted, breathless from running. Orion rolled his eyes. Would they be able to play at all? People kept stopping them! However, once the boy saw who the voice belonged to, he paled.

"Angie?" Luke asked, causing Maiko to growl.

"I can't have the teams be so unfair for little Maiko-chan. To all three of you," Angelique's words were directed to her team members, regret shown in her eyes. "I want you to know, I'm sorry. I really am."

Maiko just nodded, shrugging the apology off and not caring what the girl said. Luke smiled at her, doing the handshake that the others did earlier. As Angelique joined him, Orion looked at her, deciding that although she was rude before and seemed to have made Maiko hate her, she didn't seem like the type to be horrible for no reason. She didn't seem like a mean person when she smiled and goofed off like that. If anything, she had this natural charm that made him realize, she couldn't be that bad. Deciding on his answer, he reached up to tap her shoulder.

"I forgive you." He said, watching Angelique blink in surprise before grinning. "Now can we _finally_ play?"

...


End file.
